Not Alone
by LittleMissLiz
Summary: The Doctor has been alone most of his life. All his companions end up leaving, or stuck in a parallel universe. But one day he meets Claire, who turns out to be a companion he will never forget. All of the Doctor's family and friends died in the great Time War, but no one's ever truly alone. AU.
1. Chapter 1: The Strange Girl

AN: I do not own the Doctor Who franchise, Doctor Who, or any of its characters. The only character I do own is Claire; please don't use her without my permission.

* * *

The Tenth Doctor let out a sigh of relief. The crazed Donna Noble was safely returned to her home on Earth, and now he could go wherever he wanted, whenever he wanted. Everything was back to normal, right?

Wrong.

* * *

The Doctor was in a hospital that had been hijacked and taken to the moon by the Judoon, an alien police force. He and Martha Jones were frantically searching for answers as to who the plasmavore was that the Judoon were hunting. They ran down the hallway filled with panicked patients, and stopped for air. The hospital was running out of oxygen and supplies were running low. The Doctor looked up and saw a girl, who looked no more than sixteen years old, sitting on the floor and in the corner, alone.

The Doctor walked up to her, knelt down as if he was talking to a small child, and said, "Hello. Why are you here all alone? Are your parents around?"

The girl knelt, mimicking the Doctor's position. She said, with a smile on her face, "Hello. No, my parents aren't around. Does everyone around here talk like this?"

The Doctor heard the sound of Martha's laughter from behind him. He helped the girl up to her feet.

"Fair enough, sorry. Visiting anyone?"

"No," replied the girl with a neutral expression.

"Then why are you here?"

The girl's face suddenly became concentrated, as if she was deep in thought. "Well, I don't know. I had a feeling that I just... had to come here."

The Doctor nodded his head. He sure knew what that felt like. "Well, that's lovely but I really need to go now." He began walking down the hall. "And if you need anything, give me a shout! I'm the Doctor!"

Martha darted after him, still smiling at the girl's joke.

* * *

After a lot of running around, near-death experiences, and a kiss, the hospital was safely returned to Earth. The Doctor and Martha dodged swarms of paparazzi to make it to the TARDIS.

"Get out of here. Come on now, that is going too far. There's no way that thing can also travel in time." She gestured to the TARDIS.

"I'll prove it," said the Doctor. He opened the doors to the TARDIS and stepped inside. After pulling a few levers, he sent the TARDIS back to earlier that same day. The Doctor walked out onto the sidewalk and spotted Martha on her way to work. He walked up to her and loosened his tie. "Like so. See?" he said while removing his tie. He walked back to the TARDIS and returned to present-day Martha.

"Told you," he said as he walked out of the TARDIS, blue tie in hand.

"No but, that was this morning!" Martha said in utter disbelief. "But-did you? Oh my god, you can travel in _time_. But, hold on. If you saw me this morning why didn't you tell me not to go into work at the hospital?"

"Crossing into established events is _strictly forbidden. _Except for cheap tricks. This is called the TARDIS, it stands for time and relative dimension in space."

"Your spaceship's made of wood," Martha said, laughing. "There's not a lot of room, it'd be a bit... _intimate_." Martha ran her hand along the deep blue TARDIS doors.

The Doctor nudged the door open with his hand. "Take a look for yourself."

Martha walked into the large control room. She looked around at the staircases leading to different rooms and the big mechanism in the center. "No no no." She ran back outside and circled the TARDIS. "But it's just a box. It's _huge_! How does it do that? It's _wood_." She ran back inside and looked around. "It's like a box with that room just... crammed in. It's bigger on the inside."

The Doctor mouthed that last sentence along with her. He had heard that more times than he could count. It never got old. "Is it? I hadn't noticed!" he exclaimed as he closed the doors. "Right then! Let's get going."

"But, is there crew? Like a navigator and stuff? Where is everyone?"

"Just me." The Doctor began flipping switches and pressing buttons on the console.

"All on your own?"

"Well, sometimes I have... guests. I mean, some friends travelling alongside. I had- it was recently- a friend of mine. Rose; her name was Rose. And... we were together. Anyway-"

"Where is she now?" Martha asked.

"With her family, happy. She's fine. Not that you're replacing her." The Doctor pointed at Martha and gave her a stern look. No one could replace Rose. Absolutely no one. He had travelled with her for such a long time and it had all been ripped away from him in less than a day. She had been ripped away from him.

"Never said I was."

He raised his voice. "Just one trip to say thanks. Just one trip, then you're back home. I'd rather be on my own."

* * *

"Well you're the one that kissed me." Martha told the Doctor. She tried to get him to loosen up a bit when she saw the hurt that was in his eyes.

"That was a genetic transfer. I needed the Judoon to think that you weren't human if I was going to get the time I needed to catch the plasmavore." The Doctor began circling the console once more.

"And you do wear a tight suit," Martha said, following him.

"Now, don't."

"And then travel _all the way_ across the universe just to ask me on a date?" She smiled flirtatiously.

The Doctor leaned over the console so he was level with her face. "Stop it."

"For the record, I'm not remotely interested. I only go for humans."

"Good. Well, then. Close down the gravitic anomalizer. Fire up the helmic regulator. And finally - the hand brake. Ready?"

"No."

The Doctor smiled at Martha. "Off we go."

But just before the Doctor could pull the lever, Martha called out to him.

"Doctor...?"

"What is it now?" The Doctor replied, exasperated.

"The girl, the girl from the hospital... she's-"

The Doctor whirled around and saw that same girl. The same short girl with the curly brown hair from the hospital.

"Really? Twice in one week?" exclaimed the Doctor.

"What?" The look on the girl's face was pure terror.

"What?" The Doctor pushed his hand through his hair

"Where am I?"

"How did you even-" The Doctor walked towards her.

Before the Doctor even had a chance to tell her to explain, the girl collapsed on the floor.

* * *

AN: Thanks for reading! Be sure to follow and/or favorite if you like this story. If you're feeling particularly generous, why not leave a review? I appreciate it!


	2. Chapter 2: Claire

Disclaimer: I do not own the Doctor Who franchise, Doctor Who, or any of its characters. The only character I do own is Claire; please don't use her without my permission.

* * *

The girl woke up in a daze. She found herself on the floor, her head lying on a small pile of clothes. When she opened her eyes, she saw the face of a woman with black hair and big brown eyes checking her wrist for a pulse. The girl's chest was hurting her badly. She let out a cough.

"Doctor." the woman called softly.

The Doctor came over and helped the girl to a beige chair in the center TARDIS. The girl had no idea where she was or how she even got there. She looked at The Doctor with a puzzled expression on her face. Then, she recognized him.

"Oh! You're the guy from the hospital in space!" she called out.

* * *

Except the Doctor didn't hear her. He was too busy thinking. How did she get here? First they met at the hospital and then this. It couldn't be a coincidence. Something was drawing them together.

Just then, another spasm of pain went through the girl's chest, worse than before. She screamed and cried out "What's happening?!"

Before the Doctor even had a chance to reassure her everything was going to be fine, which he couldn't even guarantee her, she was unconscious again. The Doctor had an idea. He dug through a small box on the ground and found his old scanner.

"Martha! Out of the way! I need to get a DNA sample."

Martha moved and the Doctor turned on the scanner. It scanned the girl from head to toe. He rushed to his monitor.

"What does that do?" Martha asked.

"It scans the excess skin cells on a life-form and gets a DNA sample. It's transmitting to my computer"

The results pulled up. For a minute or two, they stood in silence as the Doctor tapped the screen and read. His face went pale when he saw the results.

"No... no that's not possible." He was tapping furiously in frustration.

"What, what is it?!" Martha asked anxiously.

"It's... it's saying that... she's not human."

"Well then what is she?"

The Doctor hesitated. "It says she's...Time Lord."

Silence.

"But how? How is that possible?" Martha asked.

"It's not. It can't be.. it's got to be a mi-"

The Doctor was cut off by the machine beeping. He looked at the screen, where new results had popped up.

"No... no."

"What is it?"

"It... it matched her up with me. It's saying we have a paternal bond."

"Oh well then obviously it's wrong. You don't have children." Martha laughed, relieved that the machine had made a simple mistake.

"I don't now, but I did. I had a wife and a little girl on Gallifrey. Before the Time War."

Martha's mouth gaped with shock.

The Doctor continued on. "But it can't be. The children were evacuated. They were sent to another planet to be protected." His voice grew soft. "The ship crashed on impact. She was only five." Tears were streaming down his face now.

The girl stirred and woke up. She slowly got up from the chair and Martha ran over to help her.

"No, I'm fine now, thanks." The girl said.

Now the Doctor wasn't playing around. He was angry. He was angry that his scanner messed up, he was angry because people keep appearing in the TARDIS, he was angry at the whole universe.

"Who. Are. You." He said with clenched teeth.

The girl's eyes widened.

"Well you're the one that brought me here! Who are you?!" She got a good look at him. Brown pinstriped suit, long trench coat, beige-ish brownish shoes. Brown sticky-uppy modern hair. Brown appeared to be a theme here.

"I did not bring you here! You broke in! What are you then? What species? Just get out of the girl and stop masking your DNA. I can help you." The Doctor said, frustrated.

"What are you talking about?! I'm human! You're a human, too! I am not some kind of parasite hiding inside a girl. I'm just Claire!"

The Doctor got right in her face and was about to say something when he noticed something. She looked exactly like...

"Well?" Claire asked expectedly. "Who are you?"

"Claire, where are your parents?"

"I don't have any. I'm an orphan." Claire replied casually, as if she gets asked this question almost every day.

This was all fitting in too perfectly. Then things got even stranger. The Doctor could smell the scent. The scent that all Time Lords smell when they are close.

No.

It can't be.

But **_she looked just like_**...

No.

"Claire... I need to feel your heartbeat." The Doctor said shakily.

"Why? I feel fine now?" Claire asked.

"Trust me. I'm the Doctor."

He placed his hand on her heart and felt the beat. He moved his hand over.

He gasped.

Two heartbeats.

END OF CHAPTER 2

* * *

Please review! Constructive criticism welcome. It only makes my writing better. But praise is welcome, too :) Praise is always welcome. Remember to follow this story/add it to your favorites if you like it!


	3. Chapter 3: Heartbeats

Two heartbeats.

The girl... Claire... she had two heartbeats. Her DNA matched with the Doctor. She was brought to the TARDIS. Her and the Doctor kept meeting by chance. And she looked just like...

The Doctor couldn't breathe. The courageous, adventurous Doctor that could never be thrown off, couldn't breathe. He sat down on the beige chair that Claire had just sat in, took a deep breath, and ran a hand through his hair. How was he supposed to tell this girl; this sweet innocent girl, that he might be her father? Might be? He knew better than that, he just couldn't admit it to himself. It was all too good to be true. She looked just like... just thinking of the name would turn him into a wreck.

"Well," he thought. "might as well come on out with it then."

He stood up slowly, starting to regain his trademark confident and cocky stride, and walked over to the girl. He was about to bend his knees to talk to her just like he had done at the hospital, (which seemed like _ages_ ago), but he remembered how she had mocked him about it and changed his mind. _"Hmm, probably got that from-" _He stopped himself from finishing the thought. He couldn't accept it yet, not just yet.

"Claire," The Doctor began, "Listen. I.. I need to tell you something very important."

"Um... ok? I'm listening." Claire still thought this was all a bit... no wait... VERY odd.

"Okay." The Doctor took a deep breath. "Listen, you said that you didn't know why you came to the hospital? That something just sort of 'brought' you there?"

"Yeah, I just felt like I had to be there."

"Well, look, it was no coincidence that we met. And it's no coincidence that you were brought here."

"What do you mean?" Now Claire was very confused.

He looked at her with an expression that definitely meant he wasn't fooling around. When he spoke, his tone was very matter-of-fact. "Claire, I am not human. I am a TimeLord from the planet Gallifrey. "I am the last of my kind."

Claire just stared at him open mouthed. She didn't want to believe him, but how could she not? She was inside a huge room with what she was assuming had multiple floors, way past modern-age technology, and she was transported there!

But she had to be sure. "I don't believe you." She managed to squeak out.

"Feel my hearts beating." The Doctor replied without taking his eyes off her.

_"Jeez, what is it with this guy and heart beats? Wait a minute, did he say _heart_s?" _Claire thought.

Curiosity got the best of her. She put her hand over the area where his heart should be. _Beat-beat-beat-beat. _Didn't sound like two hearts to her.

"Now move your hand to the left." The Doctor whispered.

So Claire moved her hand to the left. _Beat-beat-beat-beat. _

Claire gasped and stepped backwards. _"Okay, so he's an alien," _she thought. _"What does he want with me?"_

"Don't be scared! I'm not going to hurt you," the Doctor said. "But there's more."

_"More? How is there more? You just told me you're an alien! What more could there be?" _Claire's head was spinning. She could actually feel her mind blowing.

The Doctor continued with his matter-of-fact voice. "Claire, look at me. This is going to be a huge shock to you. I am about to tell you something that is going to change your life forever." He took a small pause and began to talk again. "When you were brought to the TARDIS, you fainted due to the pain in your chest, correct?"

Claire could only nod.

"And what did it feel like? Your chest?"

Claire struggled to come up with the right words. "It was.. it was... excruciating. It felt like...like... not like being ripped apart, not like being crushed, sort of like... um-"

"Like something was growing inside of you?" The Doctor finished her sentence.

"Yes! Yes, exactly like that." The fact that the Doctor knew what it felt like scared her even more. But she wasn't scared. She was more... confused. Something inside her told her she could trust this man.

"After you fell asleep, I took a small sample of your DNA and analyzed it. It showed tha-"

"You did what?!" Claire burst out.

"Calm down and listen to me." Now Claire knew he wasn't playing around. "I had to test to see if you were another life-form trying to get inside the TARDIS. I have a lot of enemies. But anyway, when I scanned your DNA, it showed that," another pause. "We share similar DNA. I have a paternal bond with you."

Claire ran to the chair and sat down. _"What? No, this can't be. My... dad? No. My mom and dad put me up for adoption because they couldn't take care of me. My parents aren't aliens!"_ She couldn't think, she couldn't breathe. The Doctor gave her a few minutes to let all of that information soak in. And then there was poor Martha, just standing there, with nothing she could do to help the situation. She was just staring. Her heart was ripping in two for Claire. She couldn't even imagine how hard it must be to find all of this out at such a young age.

"So I'm... I'm..." Claire stuttered.

"You are a Time Lord Claire. You aren't human. You never were and never will be. Go ahead, feel your heartbeat."

Claire moved her hand over where her heart should be. _Beat-beat-beat-beat_. Then she moved it to the left. _Beat-beat-beat-beat. _She dropped her hand and tried to scream, but no sound came out.

"That's why your chest was hurting, Claire. When TimeLords are first born, their bodies don't need two hearts. How old are you? About sixteen? That's about the time a TimeLord starts needing their second heart. The heart literally grows within you, it uses stored energy. All TimeLords should really be with their parents when the process begins. It's extremely painful." He made a contorted face. "I remember mine. Ugh." He shuddered. "The TARDIS detected who you were ever since we bumped into each other at the hospital. It knew, from the DNA you left on my clothing. It knew who you were and it brought you here to me."

Claire all of a sudden had a thought. Something she didn't want to ask, but she knew she had to. "So um... if you are my..." she couldn't get the word out. "You know... where have you been all these years? What happened?"

The Doctor knew he was going to have to tell her eventually. He just didn't know it would come so soon. He rubbed his hands over his face in exhaustion and began to tell the story of which he has told too many times. "Claire, a long time ago, the Time Lords lived on the planet Gallifrey. Then the Time War broke out. The whole universe was at war. Gallifrey and its people were destroyed. I am the only survivor." He looked into her eyes and smiled a grim smile. "Until I found you. I'm not sure how you got here, because the children of Gallifrey were all evacuated to another planet. You were only five. But there was a report that the ship crashed, and there were no survivors. That's why I had my doubts at first. But looking at you, Claire, I have absolutely no doubts that you are my daughter." The Doctor wanted nothing more than to just hug her and never let go again. But he knew she should absorb this information first. Tears started streaming down his face and he made an effort to contain them, but he just couldn't.

Claire was in shock. She couldn't speak, couldn't move. She was just staring at the Doctor and Martha. She wondered if Martha was an alien, too. _"I'm an alien. I'm a Time Lord. What does that mean? I'm a lord of time?! And this man, this man right here, he's my dad." _She went over and looked at the monitor. And, sure enough, there it was. A clear match between her and the Doctor. Claire, the Claire who would spend every afternoon playing soccer with her friends in the backyard. The Claire who made friends with every kid in the orphanage. The Claire who kids idealized. She was an alien.

She let this all soak in. But then, just then, she laughed. She giggled uncontrollably. She decided that this probably was the best thing that ever happened to her in her life! First of all, she was a TimeLord. Just thinking about that word, _TimeLord, _made her feel all tingly inside. Second of all, she finally met her dad. She had fantasized for years about her dad. What he would look like, what he would be like, heck, what he would _smell _like. And now she finally knew. Claire absolutely could not stop giggling in delight.

"What is it?!" The Doctor asked Martha. "What is it? Why do people keep laughing at me?"

Martha laughed with Claire, and the Doctor threw his hands in the air like he just gave up. He went to sit down to wait out all the laughing. But before he could sit down, Claire ran to him and enveloped him in a hug; and their four hearts beat as one.

* * *

AN: Thanks for reading! Be sure to follow and/or favorite if you like this story. If you're feeling particularly generous, why not leave a review? I appreciate it!


	4. Chapter 4: First Adventure

Disclaimer: I do not own the Doctor Who franchise, Doctor Who, or any of its characters. The only character I do own is Claire; please don't use her without my permission.

AN: So this is where the story will officially begin. I was originally planning on using the actual Doctor Who plot-lines and adding Claire in; but then I decided that that was not original. So I'm going to try and make up my own plot-line. Here we go...

* * *

The Doctor absolutely could not wait to take Claire on her first adventure in the TARDIS. But first, he had some explaining to do. He really hated the explaining so he preferred to do it really fast.

"Alright then! This is the TARDIS. T-A-R-D-I-S it stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space."

"It's bigger on the inside!" Claire said with the Doctor mouthing her words. He loved when people said that.

Claire's mouth gaped as she stared across the big room. She could see all of this strange technology with buttons that she really wanted to press, there were stairs leading to different levels and tall supports that looked like tree vines. She noticed the Doctor liked to throw his jacket on the tree vine things. She still couldn't believe this was all happening to her.

The Doctor continued. "The TARDIS is my ship and it can travel through time and space. Basically, I can take you wherever you want, whenever you want." He grinned. "If you want to travel with me, there are three simple things you need to know. Number one: don't wander off." Martha laughed at this; no one ever did what the Doctor said. The Doctor cleared his throat as a sign telling Martha to be quiet (not that she listened to him). _"Number two..." _The Doctor said loudly. "It is going to be dangerous, Claire. We are talking about aliens from other planets, universes even, who are after me. I have a lot of enemies."

Claire wasn't even phased by this. "Aliens from other universes? Bring it on." She smirked. She was feeling a bit cocky after finding out that she, herself, was an alien. Obviously, the full impact of what she was hadn't hit her yet.

"That's the spirit! I love it when they don't get scared; easier to handle." The Doctor told Martha, who rolled her eyes at this and sat down.

"And finally, number three: we are going to be doing _A LOT _of running. This is what I do, Claire. I travel in time, get myself into trouble, and I run."

Claire was ecstatic. "So what are we waiting for? Let's do this then!"

The Doctor corrected her, "Actually Claire, I believe the correct phrase is, ALLONS-Y!" and he pulled the lever. Immediately he was thrown back into Martha, who was sitting on the chair. Claire held on to the tree vines. The whole room was shaking and she really had no idea what was going to happen. _"Where is he taking me? America? Norway? France? Mars?" _she thought. She couldn't help but smile. She had never felt this way before; hopeful, excited, happy, and safe, all at the same time. The TARDIS stopped shaking. It had reached its destination, wherever it was.

Martha and Claire exchanged a look of excitement. "Where are we?" They both asked at the same time.

"Why don't you go and see for yourself?" The Doctor smiled.

Martha and Claire were both running for the door, bumping each other to get there first. Martha felt just like a little kid again, waiting to open a present on Christmas Day. Claire ended up getting to the doors first and opened them to reveal... Egypt. They were in Egypt. The TARDIS had landed walking distance from the Great Pyramids. It was too much for Claire. She stepped back and bumped into the Doctor.

"Pretty great isn't it?" The Doctor asked.

"Pretty great? It's _amazing_!" Claire replied. "What year is this?"

"I believe it's about 49 BC. Ahh yes, Cleopatra's second year at power!"

Martha and Claire could not believe what they were seeing. "Oh my, then those must be the Great Pyramids!" exclaimed Martha.

"Oh yes they are! I hoped we would land walking distance from the pyramids. Didn't want to spend the night in the desert."

Martha and Claire had set one foot out the door when the Doctor exclaimed, "Oi! You don't want to go out dressed like that, you'll start a riot!"

Martha looked at the sleeves of her red leather sweater and down at her jeans and boots. Claire looked at her Captain America T-shirt and her jeans. They both looked at each other.

Martha finally said what they were both thinking. "So... what do we wear then?"

"Go have a look in the closet. There might be something if you go down the stairs, take a right, then a left, then a right, right, left, right, straight up ahead and to the left.

"Got it." Said Claire. And with a squeal of excitement she started down the stairs.

Martha looked at the Doctor and with a smirk said, "Kids, eh?". She smiled and walked down the stairs.

_"Yeah..." _The Doctor thought with a smile. _"Kids..."_

Martha and Claire came out in white linen dresses and gold colored sandals. They took one look at each other and started laughing.

"Off we go then!" The Doctor couldn't help but sneak in a chuckle.

They all set out walking towards the pyramids, with the Doctor talking about Cleopatra and Egypt's history the whole way. When they finally reached the pyramids, they couldn't help but marvel at them. They were so tall and grand; it was history, right in front of their eyes.

"Look over there!" Claire pointed to a pyramid being built about half a mile away. No one could miss that, it was so tall.

"See, Claire? It's history!" The Doctor made a big gesture with his arms. "History happening all around us!"

When they were finished looking at the pyramids, the Doctor took Martha and Claire to the marketplace. It was crowded. People were arguing over prices and shouting at thieves. There were animals being traded, sandals being sold, and fortunes being read.

"Oh wow! Look at this necklace made out of ivory." Claire was looking at the necklace in awe when she realized something peculiar. "Wait a minute... how can I read this sign if it's supposed to be in hieroglyphics or something?"

The Doctor knew he really was going to have to start explaining everything again. "That's the TARDIS. It get's inside your head and translates all languages. Haven't you noticed you can understand what people are saying?"

Claire realized she really could understand what people were saying. "That's so... amazing!" She caught up with the Doctor and Martha and started listening to what people were saying. People were placing bets, arguing about food, bartering; it was amazing. Just then she heard some people exclaiming, "It's the queen! It's our queen! Returning from Cairo!"

All three of them turned their heads to get a good look, and sure enough, it was the queen. There were guards riding alongside a carriage being pulled by beautiful dark horses, which were a symbol of wealth in Egypt. The carriage was blocked off, so they couldn't see Cleopatra's face. Everyone got to their knees and bowed; The Doctor, Martha, and Claire smiled at each other and did the same.

Just then, the Doctor heard someone say, "The time is now.".

He looked over to where the sound came from. He saw a woman take something out of the back of her dress. It looked like some sort of portable laser gun. _"Wait a minute... that's not supposed to be here." _

The Doctor got up and started running toward the carriage. The woman saw what he was doing, took aim, and fired at the carriage.

* * *

**END OF CHAPTER 4**


	5. Chapter 5: Cleopatra

ZAP.

The shoppers all started panicking. What else could they have done? There was a blue light coming from a laser gun being held by someone who seemed to be an innocent shopper. A strange looking man in a brown pinstriped suit was running at top speed towards the carriage that held their precious queen Cleopatra. Martha and Claire got lost in a large crowd of panicking Egyptians.

The first laser missed, hitting a maroon tarp that was covering the jeweler's stand. It burst into ash and the crowd went crazy. Mother's crying out for children, people running and tripping over each other, it was insanity. The second laser fired, but the Doctor got to the carriage first. He shoved Cleopatra out of the way and she hit the ground with a thud.

The Doctor saw the woman that had fired the laser running from the scene, with a man close at her side. They were both blonde and the male was shorter than the female. Just as the Doctor was getting up to chase after them, Martha pushed her way through the crowd and stood behind him. The crowd was still going mad. "Doctor! What's going on?" She yelled.

"Where is Claire?" The Doctor replied.

"I thought she was with you!" Martha said with a concerned expression.

"Claire!" the Doctor yelled at the top of his lungs.

"I'm here!" Claire ran up. Her white linen dress was torn up the sides and was covered in sand. She was breathing heavily, as though she had just run a marathon.

The Doctor turned around and started running. "Come on! We have to catch them! They went this-" He was cut off by a sharp tug on his collar. He was pulled back right into the face of a big, buff man.

"You are coming with us," he said in a sharp Middle Eastern accent.

"What? No, you don't understand! I am trying to catch the people who-"

"You assaulted our queen. You must pay the consequences." The Doctor was grabbed by the arm by another guard. They both began hauling him away as the Doctor struggled.

"Let him go! You can't do this! He's trying to help you!" screamed Martha. Another guard grabbed her and Claire and said, "If you ladies are with him, you're coming with us too."

The Doctor, Martha, and Claire were shoved into another carriage and were taken along a winding road. When they were taken out, the sunlight blinded them. After the haze cleared and their eyes were adjusted, they looked up at a marvelous palace. On either side of the doors were two guards dressed in white cloth to protect themselves from the heat. They were holding spears and they looked ready to fight in the presence of danger at any given moment.

"Oh jeez," groaned Claire.

"This is brilliant!" the Doctor said, laughing. "I've never met Cleopatra before."

They were taken into the castle and were guided through the halls. They looked at oil paintings of gods and Egyptian landscapes. Every room they passed was decorated with the finest accents and draperies. Finally, they were towed into a grand room. The walls were covered in ancient paintings, which would technically be current. And who was sitting on the throne at the front of the room? It was none other than Cleopatra, one of the greatest of the pharaohs of Egypt.

"Claire, Martha, this is Cleopatra the Seventh, the last queen of Egypt," the Doctor said.

The guards shoved the Doctor so that he was in front of the queen. He could see her more closely now. She was wearing a dress of the finest, thinnest linen. It was lined with red and blue designs on the cuffs and collar. Her gold sandals contrasted with her green eyeshadow and black liner. She was stunning. "Kneel before me,"she commanded in a powerful, unwavering voice. The Doctor did as she said. "Now, what is the meaning of this? I have been assaulted by a peasant. The market was in a panic."

"Your Highness," the Doctor began, "I did not mean to harm you in any way. I was just trying to move you out of the way of the laser beam that was headed towards you."

"What are these words you speak of? Are you speaking of the blue light? Do not make me look like a fool!" the queen shouted angrily.

"Yes, I am speaking of the blue light! I saw who cast it and I was just on my way to stop them when these big fellows got in the way." He looked at the guards pointedly.

"And how am I not to know that you are playing me for a fool? This 'blue light' seems to be the work of the gods. They are angry. Offerings must be paid to them."

"No, Your Highness, listen to me." The Doctor looked into her eyes. He wasn't fooling around. "This light was not supposed to be here. It is not the work of the gods."

"Then who was it the work of?"

"That is what I am trying to find out. Now please let me go find the people who are responsible for this. If I don't succeed, you can execute all three of us."

"Wait what?" Claire looked at the Doctor in disbelief. What was he saying? The Doctor looked at her and winked. Claire didn't understand the message. Martha was holding back her laughter. Clearly Claire was not yet used to the Doctor's methods.

There was a silent pause while Cleopatra mulled things over. Even deep in thought she looked elegant and poised. "Very well then. Guards, you are to let the prisoners go find the criminals. They have seven days to find them or the man will be publicly executed and the women kept as slaves."

_"Oh gosh... what has he gotten us into?" _thought Claire.

* * *

Martha, Claire, and the Doctor were led outside the palace. "Well, what are we going to do now? Whoever we're chasing could be miles away from here by now." Claire whined.

"Just come with me you two. We're going back to the scene of the crime," the Doctor said. He took them back to the marketplace. It was a long walk and by the time they got there, Claire was just about ready to collapse on the ground. In fact, she was just about going to when she saw a black beetle burrowing it's way through the sand. She screamed and ran about ten feet away.

The Doctor jumped and pulled his sonic screwdriver out of his jacket pocket. "What? What? What is it?" He was waving it around and pointing, but there was nothing there.

Claire stood there sheepishly and said, "There was a beetle."

The Doctor sighed and got back to work surveying the area. Martha came up to Claire and said, "Really? That's where you draw the line? You meet a time traveling alien and go with him without a fuss, but when you see a beetle, you run for the hills?"

"Yeah... Pretty much."

Martha smiled and walked away. "Kids."

The three of them started searching the destroyed marketplace for any sign of movement. 15 minutes later, Martha called out, "Doctor, Claire! I found something."

The Doctor and Claire went to where Martha was standing and saw footprints. Two sets of footprints were leading away from the marketplace instead of further into the marketplace like the others. "Well, it looks like we're going to have to follow them," Claire said.

They followed the footprints for about half a mile, but after that the footprints just stopped. They were standing in the middle of nowhere, no homes or buildings were surrounding them. "This doesn't make any sense," said Martha.

"No, it doesn't," the Doctor agreed. He took out his sonic and started moving it over the footprints. He got a small beeping sound right under the last set of footprint marks. "Ah-hah! Come help me." Martha and Claire began helping the Doctor dig through the sand, despite Claire's objection due to her fear of touching a bug. After a minute, they saw something solid and silver. It was a door. The Doctor carefully opened the door to reveal a ladder descending about twenty feet into the Earth. They both stared into it before the Doctor said, "After me."

"I knew it was coming to this." Claire sighed.

"Oh, quit being such a coward. It's an adventure!" The Doctor pointed his screwdriver in the air confidently.

"Fine then! After me." Claire pushed her way past the Doctor and started down the ladder.

"That's more like it!" The Doctor and Martha started down the ladder after Claire. When they reached the bottom, they found themselves in a dark room.

"Where is the light?" Martha asked. They all began searching the walls for a switch.

Before they could find one, however, they heard a voice say, "And who are you?"

* * *

AN: Thanks for reading! Be sure to follow and/or favorite if you like this story. If you're feeling particularly generous, why not leave a review? I appreciate it!


	6. Chapter 6: Lumens

_Silence._

Silence as Martha, Claire, and the Doctor stood, frozen, in the dark. They did not know what they were waiting for exactly, but after they heard an unknown voice questioning their identities, they needed time to figure out if this was a friendly query, or a threatening allegation.

"Found it!" the Doctor called out as he pressed a button, which turned on the lights.

Claire, upon losing the darkness, which had become a sort of safety net to her over the past few seconds, quickly backed up against the wall and fixated her eyes on a single spot on the floor as if it had suddenly become the most interesting thing in the world.

Martha and the Doctor, however, got a good look at the person who spoke to them. She was identical to a human in physical form, although her skin was a deep blue. Her hair was dark brown and pixie cut, her eyes the same shade of brown as her hair. She was about as tall as Claire.

"Did you not hear me?" she said. "Who are you and why have you got your shimmer on?"

"Ah yes." begun the Doctor, "Our shimmer is on because..."

"Because," finished Martha, "We were out in the... surface world... on important business."

"And was this 'important business' authorized?" The blue person looked at Claire, who still had her eyes glued to the ground, suspiciously.

Martha and the Doctor both elbowed her in each arm. "Oi!" she said while rubbing her arms. She finally took her eyes off the floor and tried to look unhesitatingly at the creature. She failed. "Yes, this was authorized."

Apparently that was good enough for her, because the next thing she said was, "Alright, then. Come with me and I will show you your next duties."

The Doctor winked at Martha and Claire and set off behind the blue person, with Martha and Claire walking behind him. Claire caught up to the Doctor and asked, "What's a shimmer?"

"A shimmer," he stressed the word, "Is a sort of camouflage that certain species tend to use when they want to look like another species. Basically, she thinks we are actually her species and are just camouflaging to look like humans."

Claire just sort of nodded and fell back behind the Doctor, contemplating the new information she had been given. As they walked on, they saw that this underground tunnel led to a whole chasm of passageways that got wider and wider. The walls were chrome and clean. In fact, the whole chasm had a sterile and clean sort of feeling, almost like a huge doctor's office. The woman finally led them to a large room that seemed to be a control room. It was full of people who looked identical to the blue person. They were testing and manufacturing weapons, looking at holographs of the earth, and running around, as if they all had to be somewhere.

"Wow," Martha said under her breath.

"Wow, indeed, Martha. Now the question is, who are they?" I can't seem to place them, yet," said the Doctor, running a hand through his sticky-uppy hair quizzically.

"Attention, lumens!" the blue girl called out. Everyone dropped what they were doing and looked at her. She was undoubtedly their leader. "Status on the elimination of the humans' queen?"

The Doctor's face suddenly brightened with understanding and he realized who they were. They were the lumens, one of the most ancient species in this universe's existence. The lumens had lived in the Earth's waters practically since the dawn of creation, deep in caverns under the sea.

One of the lumens, the male who was in the market earlier, stepped up and said, "Unfortunately, our plans have taken a detour. An unknown human took the target out of my range of fire. Fretalia and I had to leave before we were captured."

The Doctor stepped back casually, trying to hide himself from the male's gaze.

The female lumen's voice rose in anger. "Then the next time you go out, I expect you to succeed in taking out the queen. Are we clear?" she said through clenched teeth.

The male lumen nodded his head and was about to step back to continue his work when he spotted the Doctor. "Wait! That is him! That is the traitor!" he exclaimed.

Almost immediately, twenty or so lumens popped up around the trio. They were each held down and weapons were aimed at them.

"Well, this just got complicated," The Doctor said.

"You think?" Claire replied.

* * *

AN: Thanks for reading! Be sure to follow and/or favorite if you like this story. If you're feeling particularly generous, why not leave a review? I appreciate it!


	7. Chapter 7: Da-

Disclaimer: I do not own the Doctor Who franchise, Doctor Who, or any of its characters. The only character I do own is Claire; please don't use her without my permission.

* * *

"Alright! You caught us. We aren't lumens. In fact, two of us aren't even from this planet. The question is, what are _you _doing trying to kill one of the most powerful women of the century?", said The Doctor.

Claire was a bit confused. "Two _of us aren't even from the this planet?", _she thought. _"Two? Oh, wait! Right, I'm not human. Jeez, I'm not human. That's gonna take some getting used to."_

"You don't dare question us on our territory. Now, who are you and what is your business here?", the female lumen said. They still didn't know her name.

"I'm The Doctor. I was originally planning on taking my lovely daughter and Martha here on a vacation to the pyramids, but then I saw this young...lumen... aim a gun at one of Egypt's most powerful rulers so I thought I might as well follow him and look around!". It was as if The Doctor was taking joy in this.

"And who are the females?". The female lumen pointed at Martha and Claire with her gun. Claire flinched.

"Well um... I'm Claire, the lovely daughter." Claire said.

"And I'm Martha.", she nervously looked around at all the lumens pointing weapons at her. "Hello." She waved.

"Right, then! My turn.", began The Doctor. "What are you doing here and why are you trying to kill Cleopatra?".

"The lumens are an ancient race. We dominated planet Earth before humans walked among us and took it all away. We seek to dominate the Earth once more by conquering one of its most ancient and powerful civilizations."

"But you can't just take over Egypt! The whole future of the Earth would be changed! Who knows what could happen?" Martha exclaimed.

"We know.", the lumens' leader began. "We will come out victorious and rule the Earth once more. Gorgek, Kater, take the intruders to the cellar."

Two very large lumens walked over and took Martha, The Doctor, and Claire away to a chrome lined room in the back of the cavern. Claire sort of lagged behind. She was astounded that The Doctor didn't even try to resist. He just paced around the room.

"Well, that's it, then? We're just going to sit here and take it? This is not what I signed up for." Claire said.

"Relax. I've got a plan." The Doctor said, attempting to be reassuring.

"What's your plan, then?" Claire demanded. She really wasn't good in these sort of situations, or any situations, really.

"Now.", The Doctor nodded to Martha. He whipped out his sonic screwdriver and walked quietly to the door, which was made of chrome and not wood. Martha placed herself right next to the door, against the wall, ready to throw the guards in the cellar and run. The Doctor pressed a button on the silver screwdriver. A blue light flashed and with a click, the door was open. The guards, who were busy looking at a computer screen across the room, didn't notice as The Doctor and Martha ran out. Once they saw that the guards were preoccupied, The Doctor looked at Claire, who was still standing, shocked, in the cellar. He gave her a look that said, "Coming?" and Claire ran out after them.

They ran down the hall and sat next to a stairwell in the back, completely blocked from view. "Wow **Da-**", Claire froze. "Wow, thanks for keeping me in the loop.", she said, trying to cover up her anxiety over what she had just said with a laugh.

The Doctor remained silent for a second. He had heard what Claire was about to say and he heard her change it. Martha could practically cut the tension in the area with a knife. "Okay!", she began, "what's the next step in the plan, Doctor?".

The Doctor snapped back to reality. "I have absolutely no idea, Martha.", he replied with a smirk.

**END OF CHAPTER 7**

* * *

AN: So sorry that the chapters have gone back to being shorter like they used to be! I really don't have time to write a lot at once. And if instead I take a slightly longer time to write longer chapters, I know I would just end up putting it off and eventually forgetting about it. But anyway, please remember to follow/favorite this story if you liked it! Also, please review. It makes my writing a lot better. Concrit is welcome and so is praise. Praise is always welcome.

**ATTENTION: I am currently looking for a beta reader. If you would like to beta read this story for me, please PM me. I am especially looking for someone who is good with dialogue, as my punctuation is all messed up. **


	8. Chapter 8: Aquadius

Disclaimer: I do not own the Doctor Who franchise, Doctor Who, or any of its characters. The only character I do own is Claire; please don't use her without my permission.

* * *

"You have _absolutely no idea?_" Claire asked. She, The Doctor and Martha were still sitting in their dark corner behind the stairwell. They heard gasps, undoubtedly coming from the two guards, and fell silent. The guards began shouting to one another.

"You weren't paying attention!"

"I wasn't paying attention? _You _were the one that decided to start playing with the modulator!"

"Go alert Raymana, you twit! We must search every corner of the cavern!"

One of the guards started running down the hall. The trio could hear his footsteps grow louder and louder as he got closer to the stairwell. The Doctor put a finger to his lips as a sign that they had to be very quiet. Thankfully, the lumen guard did not see Claire, The Doctor or Martha in the shadows; instead he rushed up the stairs.

"Well, what are we going to do now?" Martha asked in a panic.

The Doctor carefully peered over the metal railing of the staircase to check if the other guard was still there. He wasn't.

"Come this way." The Doctor said motioning for Claire and Martha to follow him up the stairs.

"Oh jeez, oh jeez, oh jeez..." Claire was obviously nervous.

"Calm down, Claire. We're going to be fine. The Doctor always knows what he's doing." Martha reassured.

"Yes, keep telling yourself that." said The Doctor under his breath.

"What?"

"I said shhh."

On top of the stairs was an average-sized room which appeared to be almost empty. There was a single wooden table that had several spreadsheets on it and a single fluorescent lamp hanging from the ceiling. Seeing nothing of importance, they headed towards the door at the other end of the room. The Doctor put his hand on the doorknob and was about to open the door when Raymana, the head lumen, opened it from the other side.

"It's the prisoners! Tanyo, Jambon! Capture them at once!" Raymana shouted.

"And this is the running part I told you about, Claire. Run!" said The Doctor.

Martha, Claire and The Doctor ran back down the staircase with the guards close behind. They turned a corner and ended up running down a long, narrow hallway. They turned right, but saw another pair of lumens heading towards them. The trio turned around and ran in the other direction. They soon back into the same room they were originally in but it was now full of lumens.

"Oh, that's convenient." Martha said sarcastically.

Martha, Claire and The Doctor turned around to run the other way, but the lumens were closing in. The guards made their way through the crowd, grabbed hold of them, and were just about to haul them off when The Doctor shouted, "Wait! I can help you!".

The lumens stopped and everyone became silent.

_"Oh gosh, what is he on about this time," _Claire thought.

Raymana walked in and said, "Good. You have caught them. Explain yourselves!"

"I can help you. I know an unoccupied planet _covered_ in water that you are free to rule! I can take you there and you can stop all this madness with killing the Queen of Egypt and what have you." The Doctor went on to explain.

The various lumens nodded their heads, picturing themselves on a planet covered in water, their lives going on uninterrupted and on their own terms.

"And what makes you think we're going to trust you?", Raymana laughed.

"Just please, trust me, I'm The Doctor. If I even attempt to harm you in any way, you can keep my two friends and me as prisoners."

"Wait, what?" Claire looked at Martha, but Martha just shook her head and smiled.

Raymana looked around at the other lumens in search of their approval. The lumens all nodded, eager to start a new life.

"Very well. Take me to this planet covered in water.", she said.

The Doctor took Raymana back across the Egyptian market and to the place he parked the TARDIS, next to the pyramids.

"_This _is your ship?", Raymana gestured to the outside of the TARDIS, which appeared to be a small, royal blue police-box.

"Just wait, Raymana," The Doctor said while he was looking for his key. He finally found the small, silver key and unlocked the door. Raymana walked in and said, "Oh how impressive. It's bigger on the inside, similar to the cavern."

"Well that wasn't quite the reaction I was expecting but it'll do," The Doctor replied, slightly disappointed at Raymana's lack of enthusiasm. "Off we go!" The Doctor pressed a few buttons and pulled the lever. Within two seconds, they were on the planet Aquadius.

"Where are we?" asked Raymana.

"Go on out and see for yourself." replied The Doctor with a half-smile.

Raymana slowly opened the TARDIS doors and gasped. What she saw in front of her was a deep blue ocean that spread as far as her eyes could see. There were small islands here and there, like the one the TARDIS was parked on. She immediately fell in love with it and exclaimed in wonder, "Doctor, thank you! This is absolutely perfect! Take me back to the cavern and I will bring my fellow lumens here."

The Doctor brought Raymana back to the cavern then took the girls back to the TARDIS.

"Wow, that was... impressive." Claire said once they were inside the TARDIS.

"How did you like your first adventure in the TARDIS guys? Er um... ladies?" The Doctor asked with a big silly grin on his face.

"It was brilliant!" exclaimed Martha.

The Doctor looked at Claire expectantly, instead Claire started crying.

* * *

AN: Thanks for reading! Go ahead and review!

**Thanks to ExpressionsofaWriter for the helpful beta reading!**


	9. Chapter 9: Overwhelmed

"Claire, what's wrong?" asked Martha, who immediately walked over to comfort an apparently distraught Claire.

Claire talked in between sniffles. "It's just… It's so overwhelming! First, I find out I'm an alien, then I go to _ancient Egypt_ and almost get _killed _by a bunch of aliens. I thought I could handle it but it's all too freaky."

"Claire," The Doctor walked over and was about to kneel beside her, when he remembered that she didn't like that. "Did you see what we did back there? Did you see what _you _did? You were amazing. I know you can do it."

"Really? It's just… You were so brave out there. You acted like you weren't worried about anything, no matter how much worse the situation got! I'm not sure if I can ever be like that," Claire said.

The Doctor gave Claire a reassuring smile. "And no one ever told you that you have to be like me. Don't you want to know what's out there, Claire? Don't you want to visit strange planets and far away galaxies that you've never even heard of? Don't you want to touch the edges of the universe with me?"

* * *

Martha sighed. She had wanted for a while now to hear The Doctor say something like that to her. She had been dropping hints to The Doctor that she liked him, but he just didn't pick them up. Martha recalled a time when her friend went through this exact situation.

_"Vicky, you need to stop obsessing over Sean! He doesn't look at you twice and he isn't worth your time!" Martha paced around Vicky's room._

_"But Martha, I love him! He's just taking his time, you see. Probably still getting over another relationship. He'll come around," Vicky said._

_"No he won't. You need to get out before it's too late. You've spent a year pining over this man and he's barely even acknowledged you! Please, Vicky, don't waste your life."_

_Vicky shook her head, causing her high blonde ponytail to whip around her face. "Martha, you just don't understand. Sean likes me. He's going to ask me out any day now, trust me. You don't know what it feels like to have to wait around for a guy to like you. Men are always pining over you. You just don't know what it's like to wait around. There's this feeling in your heart that makes you _know _that it's going to be worth the wait."_

Now Martha knew what that felt like.

She snapped back to reality after hearing her name. "What?" she asked.

"I said, 'Right, Martha?'" The Doctor answered.

"Oh, um, yes! Right!" Martha didn't even know what she had just agreed to.

* * *

Claire definitely felt better. Hearing her dad talk about the universe and everything that was out there, really made her want to explore more. She couldn't wimp out now. She decided to tackle each obstacle as it came and not worry about the hard stuff. For once, she was not alone.

* * *

The Doctor was relieved, for a second he thought he was about to lose Claire. Now that he had his daughter and a faithful companion by his side, he felt truly happy for the first time since… Well…

He shook his head. The Doctor just couldn't think about Rose, he knew he hadn't fully moved on yet.

"So! What's up next, eh? We could go witness the first moon landing or… Or… Watch the construction of the Leaning Tower of Pisa! Oh even better, I think the planets Lucadia, Stratios, and Javile are supposed to align tonight! That would be fun to watch, wouldn't it?" the Doctor said, clearly very excited.

"How about we go eat first? I am pretty hungry," Martha suggested.

"Oh, yeah, I could definitely go for some food right now," Claire agreed.

The Doctor sighed, "Fine, have it your way." He pulled some levers, pressed a few buttons, and they flew off into space.

* * *

AN: Thanks for reading! Be sure to follow and/or favorite if you like this story. If you're feeling particularly generous, why not leave a review? I appreciate it!

**Thanks to Erandri and ExpressionsofaWriter for the beta reading!**


	10. Chapter 10: Learn By Doing

As the TARDIS came to a halt, The Doctor, Martha, and Claire heard a low whining noise caused by The Doctor leaving the brakes on. However, The Doctor did not know the TARDIS wasn't supposed to emit this noise, and always thought that the whining sound was beautiful. When the TARDIS finally finished materializing at its destination, Claire and Martha looked at The Doctor expectantly, as if they were waiting for permission to open the doors.

The Doctor looked at them and said, "Well go on then. Let's get something to eat."

Claire walked to the TARDIS blue doors and pushed them open. All she saw was a chrome wall. She leaned her head out of the TARDIS and saw a hallway, with an elevator at the end.

"We've landed in some sort of basement, but there's an elevator over there. Come on." Claire said. She stopped to put her curly brown hair in a ponytail before she stepped outside, with Martha following suit.

Martha looked behind her and saw that The Doctor was still in the TARDIS, fiddling with some controls. "Are you coming, or what?" she asked.

"Yes, yes, in a minute." The Doctor replied, his concentration still on the controls.

"Is there something wrong?" Martha asked, her suspicions growing.

"No. Well yes. You see, I was trying to take you to a planet just outside the Milky Way but instead we-"

Martha cut him off. "We what?"

"Nothing. How about we head upstairs?" The Doctor replied, brushing his hand through his hair.

The trio entered the elevator at the end of the hallway. They examined the buttons, expecting to see numbers of floors, but instead there were pictures. On one button, there was a picture of a shopping bag. On another, there was what appeared to be a high tech computer. Another, a picture of a hamburger. Finally, the button at the very top had no picture. The three time travelers assumed the floor was Doctor pushed the button that had the burger on it, assuming that it would take them to the food court, and the elevator ascended.

When the elevator doors opened, The Doctor, Claire, and Martha stepped out, and they saw what appeared to be a food court. Stands were set up all over the floor, selling different types of fast foods. Humans (or at least what looked like humans) and many other species that Claire and Martha couldn't even begin to fathom_,_ were eating burgers, fries, colas; everything that appeared to be normal foods. This confused Claire.

She turned to The Doctor and asked, "Where are we?"

"To be perfectly honest, Claire, I really don't know." The Doctor grinned at her. "But that's where the fun comes in, isn't it? Not knowing?"

Martha walked over to one of the food stands and looked inside the window, which showed trays containing various foods. At this particular stand, there appeared to be hot dogs, chili, french fries, and onion rings. Martha turned to The Doctor and asked, "When are we?"

"We are in the year 300,998. Obviously a great year for the fast food industry." The Doctor said with a grin. Claire chuckled at his joke.

"So if we are in the year 300,998, then why does the food look like they just brought it up from the Hamburger Union?" Martha asked with a puzzled expression on her face.

"Well that's what the food _looks_ like. What do looks count for? Nothing. Learn by doing." The Doctor walked past the line and asked the cook, "Excuse me, but how much is a," He quickly put on his black framed glasses and scanned the menu. "Plur Warmer?"

"Three credits fifteen. Now get to the back of the line_,_" The cook said, clearly overwhelmed by the number of people shouting orders at him from the line.

"Ah, money. We need money." The Doctor motioned for Claire and Martha to follow him as he weaved through the crowd. He finally came up to a small touch screen. Looking around to make sure no one was watching, he took out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the zero in the middle of the screen. The longer he pointed, the larger and larger the number in the screen became. When it got to about 150, The Doctor stopped. A long, thin, metal-like bar fell into the slot underneath the monitor and he gave it to Martha.

"Here you go, some spending money. I'll be right back." The Doctor turned around and began walking in the other direction.

Claire stepped forward and pulled The Doctor back by the arm. "Wait, how are we supposed to use it?"

The Doctor grinned his usual grin and said, "Remember Claire, you're time travelers now." He started running the other way and exclaimed behind his back, "Learn by doing!"

Claire turned around to face Martha and shrugged. Martha laughed. "Come on. Let's, '_learn by doing'," _she said while making air quote motions. Claire laughed and they both started walking around to different food stands, deciding on what to eat.

* * *

The Doctor walked around, looking for some personnel. He saw two men wearing nametags in white lab coats and walked over to them. "Excuse me, this is just me being daft, but where are we?"

The two men looked at him like he was the most moronic person they'd ever seen. "We are on Titanus 1, of course_,_" The first man said. "Orbiting the planet Vernelia."

The Doctor nodded his head. "Yes, of course. And what is Titanus 1, exactly?"

The man gave The Doctor a weird look. "How could you possibly come aboard a satellite without knowing where you were? That must have been a hell of a party yesterday. Titanus 1 is a broadcasting satellite. We are currently broadcasting the latest medical breakthroughs and other news updates to hundreds of planets." He lifted his head up proudly.

"Oh, good for you!" The Doctor patted the man on the back. "Well, I'll be off watching those broadcasts," he said.

The Doctor walked away and shook his head.

_Something's not right. This is most certainly not 18th century England. What kind of satellite broadcasts medical breakthroughs? What kind of journalists where lab coats?_

* * *

AN: As usual, please follow if you like the story and leave a review if you want :)


	11. Chapter 11: The Foreign Food

Martha and Claire were eating their food at a table next to one of the fast food trucks. Martha had a medley of exotic vegetables thrown together to make a futuristic salad. She held up her fork and showed Claire a hot pink vegetable that was long and lean.

"What's that?" Claire asked.

"I'm not sure but it's really spicy." Martha bit into the pink vegetable to reveal that the inside was yellow.

Claire was eating a hamburger and had a drink on the table next to her.

"What about that? What does that taste like?" Martha asked.

"Um, well it sort of tastes like a hot dog with onions," Claire replied after taking another bite.

"And what about the drink?"

Claire picked up the drink and took a sip. "Hmm… corn?" She gestured the cup towards Martha.

Martha made a face and turned back to her salad. "No thanks, I'm fine."

They both laughed and went back to eating. Someone pulled out a chair and sat next to them. Martha and Claire turned to seethat it was the Doctor.

"Well_,_ what's kept you so long?" Martha asked.

"Oh, you know. Just exploring the satellite a little bit to see what goes on around here. Nothing big, really. Just a boring old broadcasting satellite."

Martha narrowed her eyes at the Doctor suspiciously but kept on eating. A few seconds later, they heard someone calling out.

"Someone get help! Please someone get help!"

* * *

The Doctor jumped out of his chair and ran to find the source of the noise. Martha and Claire exchanged a look of concern, then followed him. After pushing through a crowd of onlookers, The Doctor made his way towards a woman who had fainted. He noticed that she was a Tree of Cheem, a humanoid species entirely made of wood with large, intricate heads. He reached for his sonic screwdriver to analyze her until he remembered that it doesn't work on wood.

"What happened here?" the Doctor asked the other Tree of Cheem who was with the woman.

The male Tree put his hand to his head and replied, "I don't know! We were just walking along after she finished her meal, and then she fainted!"

"Don't worry, she's going to be alright. Probably just some heat exhaustion," the Doctor assured him. "Is there a hospital or quiet place I can take this woman to rest?" he asked a woman in a white lab coat who was coming over.

"No need, sir. We'll take care of it." The woman pushed past the Doctor and gestured for the two men with a stretcher who were behind her to come over. The men, also in lab coats, put the Tree of Cheem onto the stretcher and took her away.

"I hope she'll be okay," Claire said.

"Oh, she'll be fine," the Doctor replied. "She just had a bit of heat exhaustion. It's not uncommon among the Trees of Cheem. What with their dense skin and all."

"Trees of Cheem? What are the Trees of Cheem?" Martha asked.

"The Trees of Cheem are an ancient humanoid species, descended from the rain forests. They are entirely made of wood and are therefore highly flammable," the Doctor replied.

"Oh my gosh, that's terrible," Claire said.

"It's not that much of a handicap for them," said the Doctor. "They just need to be very careful around flames."

"Should we be heading back to the TARDIS, Doctor? You said there really wasn't anything to do here. We might as well try to go somewhere else." asked Martha.

"Actually, Martha, why don't we stick around for a bit, eh? We could see what's on all the other floors and maybe get some special privileges." The Doctor waved his psychic paper in the air.

"How is your wallet going to get us special privileges? You can't possibly have enough money to do something that special," Claire pointed out.

The Doctor chuckled. "Oh, Claire. This isn't a wallet." He gestured for Martha and Claire to follow him as he walked up to one of the personnel who was, of course, wearing a white lab coat. "Excuse me, I'm… er… I'm Head of Staff over at the Titanus 1 base and I am here to take a tour of your satellite and make sure everything is up to code." The Doctor flashed him his psychic paper and the man in the lab coat immediately straightened up.

"Yes, of course, sir. Right this way." He motioned for the trio to follow him. The Doctor winked at the astonished Martha and Claire and they started walking.

The worker took the trio to each of the floors and dramatically exaggerated how clean and up to code each of them were. The Doctor nodded meaningfully after each exaggerated remark.

Next, the worker, who later revealed his name was Tamar, took them up to the broadcasting room. There, the personnel were sitting at rows and rows of touch screen computers. In front of the room there was a hologram of some of the planets that were receiving the broadcasts. Beams of different colored lights were being pointed at different areas of the planets.

"Wow," Martha said, astonished.

"Wow, indeed. We are receiving and broadcasting medical breakthroughs to hospitals on hundreds of planets. See those multicolored beams? Those let us know the different broadcasts that are being sent out. We have aided in the population increase of many planets and we are very proud of it," Tamar beamed.

"Very impressive. I definitely have a fine report to write up when I get back to base," the Doctor said.

"Oh, we're not done yet," Tamar replied. "Come up one more floor. I have another room to show you."

The Doctor, Martha, and Claire all exchanged a look before going following Tamar. He took them back to the lift and up one more floor. When the doors opened, the trio saw a white room with a floor carpeted in deep blue.

"This," Tamar lifted his head up in pride, "Is the hospital wing. Because of our expansive medical knowledge, we can treat anyone who comes aboard the satellite and falls ill."

The room was filled with nurses walking around and cots with clean white sheets. Only two of these cots were filled, one with a Groske, a small, blue, humanoid creature with three tentacle-like features on its head, and the other with the Tree of Cheem that had fainted earlier in the day.

The Doctor walked over to the Tree of Cheem, sat down on the small brown chair next to her bed, and said "Hello there. I'm the Doctor. Are you feeling better?"

The Tree of Cheem nodded and said, "Yes, I am feeling better, thank you."

"What's your name?" the Doctor asked.

"Cassanily. And yours?"

"Oh, it's just the Doctor."

"Well, 'just the Doctor', thank you for coming to visit."

"No problem, Cassanily. You'll be up and around in no time."

"Hopefully. I just need to undergo one last operation," Cassanily replied.

"Well I'll leave you to your rest then! Goodbye." He waved to Cassanily and exited the room.

* * *

Later in the evening, the Doctor, Claire, and Martha were grabbing one last bite to eat before heading back to the TARDIS.

"So that's it?" asked Martha, "Is that why you wanted to stay here longer? Just so you could get a tour of the satellite?"

"Well it was pretty cool," Claire replied after taking a sip of yet another corn flavored drink.

"It wasn't just for the tour, I just thought-" began the Doctor.

Martha interrupted him "Thought what?"

"Nothing," the Doctor replied. He went on eating his interesting-looking food.

Someone tapped the Doctor on the shoulder. It was the Trees of Cheem that he saw earlier. They both looked like they had been crying.

"What's wrong?" the Doctor asked.

"When they were operating on Cassanily, there was a complication with her voice box. They did all they could, but Cassanily can't talk anymore," said the male Tree.

"Oh no, I'm so sorry," said the Doctor.

"It's not your fault. You did all you could. We just came by to say thank you. Bye, sir."

The Doctor, Martha, and Claire waved them off solemnly.

"That's just awful," Claire said.

"I can't believe it. All they wanted was a simple vacation," Martha added.

The Doctor was staring off to the side and didn't really hear what Claire and Martha had just said. He wondered why Cassanily had needed an operation in the first place. All she had was simple heat exhaustion.

"Would you like to listen to the broadcast, sir?"

"What?" The Doctor looked up and saw a blonde woman with two pairs of headphones. "Oh, sure." He took the headphones and put them on. The woman also gave a pair of headphones to Martha. They both listened to the radio broadcast curiously.

_This just in, while severe heat can damage Trees of Cheem, it has also been discovered that severely cold temperatures can damage the throat and voice boxes, also. So next time you're out in the cold, Trees, be sure to wear a scarf._

The Doctor yanked the headphones off and Martha and Claire looked at him, concerned.

Martha took her headphones off. "What is it, Doctor?"

"Don't you think it's strange how the personnel on this satellite _just _discovered that the cold can damage the voices of the Trees of Cheem right after we met a Tree who lost her ability to speak?" the Doctor replied.

"Well it could just be coincidental," Martha mused.

The Doctor shook his head. "And what kind of satellite broadcasts medical breakthroughs and has a hospital? Something's not right." He stood up and started walking towards the lift.

"Where are you going?" Martha asked.

"I'm going to the-"

Before the Doctor could finish his sentence, Claire fainted. The Doctor and Martha ran over to her.

"Claire? Claire? Can you hear me?" the Doctor tried to wake her up. "Claire!"

No reply.

Before Martha could try to help, two personnel members came over with a stretcher and pushed Martha and the Doctor out of the way.

"Wait! What are you doing? She is in my custody and I reserve the right to-" the Doctor started.

A woman in a white lab coat held him back. "Sir, trust me, everything is going to be fine. Just wait here while we help your daughter. She is in capable hands."

Claire was wheeled off to the lift when the woman finally let the Doctor go. "Don't worry, sir, we'll have her back to you in no time."

The Doctor began pacing across the floor.

Martha tried to calm the Doctor down. "What's wrong, Doctor? You heard her; everything is going to be fine. Claire probably just had a bad reaction to the foreign food."

The Doctor grabbed Martha by the shoulders. "Don't you get it, Martha? They're experimenting on the patients!"

* * *

AN: Thanks for reading! Be sure to follow and/or favorite if you like this story. If you're feeling particularly generous, why not leave a review? I appreciate it!


	12. Chapter 12: Claire's Doctor(s)

White.

Claire's eyelids fluttered as she took in the intense white light. Her vision was foggy and her stomach was hurting. Once her eyes adjusted to the brightness of the room, she pushed herself up. She noticed she was lying in a hospital bed in the same hospital she was in earlier that day. A woman in a white lab coat walked over and stood by her bedside.

"Oh, look who's awake," the brunette said in a chipper voice. "You gave us quite a scare back there. Don't worry, we just need to keep you here for a few more hours to make sure you're stable, then you can head right back to your family."

Claire blinked at her, still a bit dazed. "Um, okay. Where's the Doctor? And Martha? Are they alright?"

"Your doctor will be here in a moment to give you a quick physical. Your father and his friend will be contacted soon to let them know you're awake."

"No, I didn't mean my doctor. I meant my-"

"Well, hello, how are we feeling?" Claire was cut off by a gray-haired man, also in a white coat, who walked into the room with the same chipper attitude as the woman.

"I-I'm feeling fine, thanks, except I have a bit of a stomachache," Claire stammered.

"No problem. Why don't we start the physical then, eh? Venus, would you mind bringing me a stethoscope, please?" The man looked at the woman expectantly.

"Certainly, Doctor Chamberlain" Venus walked out of the room. Claire could hear her high heels clicking and slowly fading as she walked down the hall. She returned in a moment with a stethoscope for the doctor.

"Thank you, Venus," Doctor Chamberlain took the stethoscope and put it on. "Now, why don't we begin the examination? Breathe deeply when I say so." He put the chestpiece on Claire.

_Two heartbeats._

Doctor Chamberlain looked up at Claire and curled his lips into a smile.

* * *

The Doctor paced back and forth in the cafeteria. "Everything is starting to come together; why there's a hospital wing on a satellite, why the satellite broadcasts medical breakthroughs to the surrounding planets, why everyone who has fainted on this satellite has fainted in the food court just after eating. It all makes sense, Martha!"

"Yes, Doctor, it does. But what are we going to do now? All we have to do is go into the hospital, get Claire, and tell everyone that the satellite personnel are experimenting on the patients. It shouldn't be that hard, now that we know their secret," Martha reasoned.

"But how are we supposed to get a whole satellite to believe that the personnel are experimenting on the patients and that they are putting drugs in some of their food?" the Doctor pointed out.

"We have proof! We can talk to Cassanily and she can-"

The Doctor cut Martha off. "But Cassanily can't talk, remember?"

Martha didn't know how to respond. She saw a brunette woman in a white lab coat walk towards the Doctor and gestured for him to turn around.

The Doctor turned around. "Ah, yes, have you any word on my daughter, Claire? Is she doing alright? Is she awake? Can we go see her now?" The Doctor spoke rapidly.

"Relax, sir. I'm Venus, your daughter's nurse. She just woke up and is being examined by the doctor. If you follow me, you can see her now," the brunette said.

"Perfect. Come along, Martha." The Doctor motioned Martha to join him.

"Sorry, sir. Only immediate family allowed," Venus said with a firm tone.

"I'm sure you can make an exception. Just this once?" the Doctor asked.

"Sorry, sir. No exceptions."

"It's fine, Doctor. I'll just… wait here," Martha said as she straightened her red jacket and tightened her ponytail.

"Are you sure?" the Doctor asked.

"Yeah. Don't worry. I'll be fine."

"Okay. I'll see you _right here _in a few minutes. Don't wander off."

Martha chuckled. "Alright, Doctor. See you."

Venus and the Doctor walked to the hospital wing. When they entered, the Doctor saw Claire sitting on a bed towards the far left of the room, being examined by a man in a white coat. When Claire looked up and smiled at the Doctor, the man in the white coat turned around.

"Hello, I'm Doctor Chamberlain. You must be Claire's father." Doctor Chamberlain stuck out his hand.

"Yes, hello, I'm the Doctor." The Doctor shook his hand.

"Doctor who? Do you also work in this wing?" Doctor Chamberlain asked.

"No, no. Just the Doctor."

Doctor Chamberlain looked at the Doctor for a second and then returned to his cheerful demeanor. "Well, Doctor, Claire is recovering nicely. However, she's been complaining of some stomach pain and we'd like to try a few treatments to see if that will relieve the pain."

The Doctor held his hand up in protest. "Oh, no, you don't need to do that. Claire's stomach pain will be gone in an hour or two. Actually, I need to take her right now, as we'll be leaving soon and I need to get my friend."

Doctor Chamberlain hesitated. "I'm sorry, Doctor, I can't allow that. We absolutely need to try these treatments on Claire. We feel that her stomach pain could be dangerous."

At this statement, Claire looked up with concerned eyes.

"Excuse me, _doctor_, but I also happen to be a doctor with quite some experience and I am _telling you_, Claire is absolutely fine." The Doctor gave Claire a reassuring look.

"Sir, my word is final and we are going to keep Claire for a few more hours. Calm down, please. She will be fine and back in your care soon." Doctor Chamberlain started ushering the Doctor out the door.

The Doctor pushed Chamberlain's arm off his shoulder and turned around to face him. He spoke in a firm, demanding tone. "Now you listen to me, _doctor_, I am this girl's legal guardian and you are entitled to release her to me at my request. Now _step aside_."

The Doctor pushed past Chamberlain and took Claire by the hand. He started leading her towards the door when someone grabbed him and held him back.

"_What are you doing?_" The Doctor yelled as he struggled against the man that was holding him back.

Claire tried to run over to the Doctor but was held back by another man. "_Oi!_"

"I'm sorry, Doctor. But rules are rules. We have to keep Claire here for another hour or so. You will see her when she is released," Chamberlain barked.

"Escort this man out, please, gentlemen," Venus ordered.

The Doctor's struggles proved ineffective as he was pushed out of the room. The door slammed in his face and he heard the sound of Claire's muffled screams.

The lock clicked shut.

* * *

AN: Thanks for reading! Be sure to follow and/or favorite if you like this story. If you're feeling particularly generous, why not leave a review? I appreciate it!


	13. Chapter 13: Chamberlain's Downfall

AN: I'm currently in the process of going through my previous chapters and revamping them a bit. Chapter 1 has recently gone through some changes. I noticed how much I've improved and I wanted to thank you all for leaving your reviews, as they've really helped me come along as a writer. So, without further ado, here's chapter 13!

* * *

The Doctor hurriedly pulled out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the door. He pressed the button on the side and waited for the sound of the lock opening, but nothing happened.

_Agh, the door is made of wood. _He put the silver and blue screwdriver in his jacket pocket and desperately pounded on the door. Nothing. The Doctor couldn't even hear Claire screaming anymore. He ran his hand through his spiked up hair and started pacing.

_Come on, Doctor, think, think, think. _Then it hit him. How could he not have thought of this before? Knowing exactly what he had to do, he ran down the hall with newfound determination. Upon reaching the place where he left Martha, he found out that she was, of course, not there.

"Why does this always happen? Why can't I just have a friend who stays put when I ask them to?" The Doctor grumbled to himself as he searched the cafeteria. He couldn't find Martha anywhere; she had left the floor.

_Fine. I'll just have to find her later._ The Doctor needed to act fast. He spotted some personnel in the corner of the room and walked over to them. Holding out his psychic paper, he said, "Hello. Sorry to bother you, I'm head of security over at the base. Can you point me to the security office?"

After closely examining the Doctor's badge, the woman replied, "Go to the elevator and take it down to the basement. Once you get to the basement, go down the hall and take the first left, then the second right. The security office will be the first door on your left."

_Blimey, the security office is in the basement? And pretty close to the TARDIS, too. They must have awful security here. _"Thank you." The Doctor ran out of the room and to the elevator.

* * *

Claire struggled with her captors. "Let me go! You have no right to do this, you know. I swear I'm going to-"

"Claire I promise you, we are not going to hurt you," Chamberlain interrupted. His gritted teeth showed otherwise. "Nurses, strap her down please."

Two nurses, Venus and a short, blonde woman, walked over to Claire and dragged her to the neighboring room. Claire noticed white walls, tiled floors, and the smell of antiseptic. This must've been the operating room. They dragged her to the bed that was in the center of the room. Claire's kicking and screaming proved ineffective as she was strapped down to the bed. She stopped struggling. _What's the point? I'm either going to die or not be the same for the rest of my life. There's no use anymore._

The nurses noticed this change in behavior, looked up at each other, and smiled. They hooked Claire up to an IV and injected something into the bag. "There, there, honey. Now go to sleep; and when you wake up, this will all be over," the blonde woman said in an attempt to be reassuring.

Claire gave in to the drug and fell unconscious.

* * *

The Doctor knocked on the door to the security office. No answer. He took this as a sign that no one was inside and took out his sonic screwdriver. Aiming it at the door handle, he pressed the button on the side. The blue light at the front turned on and the sonic made a whirring noise. Fortunately, this door was not made out of wood, and the lock clicked open within a second.

The Doctor walked in and saw a woman watching the security cameras. He was just about to take out his psychic paper when he noticed who it was.

"Martha?"

The woman turned around and gasped. "Doctor! There you are! I was just having a look at these security cameras. There are two cameras in the hospital wing. One is in the patients' room," she pointed to a monitor at the lower left of the wall. "But I don't know where Claire is. She's not in that room or this one." Martha pointed to a monitor right next to the first one, which displayed a white room that had a single bed in the center.

"Martha, that's brilliant!" the Doctor exclaimed. "That's exactly what I was looking for!" He hugged Martha and picked her up off the floor. They both started laughing and smiling with newfound hope.

The Doctor whipped out his sonic and buzzed it at all four corners of the set of monitors. "Here's what we're going to do, Martha. We're going to re-route the wires of those two monitors and-"

"Doctor!" Martha gasped and pointed at the screen next to the one of the patients' room. The Doctor looked to see Claire being held down and strapped to an operating table. His eyes intensified with rage and he clenched his teeth. He continued working on the wall, muttering to himself as he concentrated on the sonic screwdriver.

With a few buzzes of the sonic, the wall of monitors opened and a whole array of cables and wires became exposed. Martha furrowed her brow in confusion, but the Doctor knew exactly what he had to do. He held the sonic in his mouth as he rearranged some wires. He took them out in certain places, and rearranged a few. He walked over to the keypad in the center of the wall and inputted a date and time.

"What are you doing, Doctor?" Martha asked.

"I'm rerouting the wires so I can display footage on all the monitors in the satellite. I set it to the exact date and time the surgeon held Claire and I down. Everyone in the satellite is going to see what really happens in the hospital with the push of a button." The Doctor held out his sonic screwdriver and aimed it at the control panel. With a few beeps and clicks, all the monitors in the room displayed the operating room. They saw that no one was inside except Claire, who was unconscious.

"Come on, we still have some time." The Doctor said. He and Martha ran out of the room.

* * *

The Doctor and Martha took the elevator to the hospital wing floor. Bolting through the hallways, they made it to the door of the patients' room. The Doctor raised his hand, ready to pound on the door, when Martha stopped him. She gave him a meaningful look and knocked gently on the door. A blonde nurse opened, and Martha quickly knocked her out of the way and ran inside. The Doctor smirked, admiring Martha's cleverness, and ran in.

They ran to the operating room door, which wasn't locked. As they went inside, they saw Claire, alone and unconscious on the operating table. Martha hurried to unstrap her. The Doctor stood by her bedside and tried waking her up.

"Claire? Claire, can you hear me? Wake up. Please wake up."

"Well, well. What do we have here? I thought I disposed of you." The Doctor and Martha whipped around to see that Doctor Chamberlain had walked into the room. He wore gloves and a plain white operating mask.

"It's too late, Chamberlain! You're about to have a whole world of trouble on your hands." The Doctor walked right up to Chamberlain.

Chamberlain smirked. "You really think-"

Nurse Venus ran into the room. "Doctor! Come quickly!" She ran back outside.

Doctor Chamberlain eyed the Doctor and ran outside. The Doctor looked back at Martha and they both smirked. He followed Chamberlain outside and gasped at what he saw. The hallway was _full_ of angry, yelling people causing a commotion. People were pounding on the doors and cursing. They noticed Chamberlain and directed their fury towards him. The Doctor looked around and noticed the monitors in the room were displaying the video of Claire and him struggling against Chamberlain. He walked back inside and locked the door behind him.

Martha jumped up and down with excitement. "So?"

"So," the Doctor began, "Let's get out of here." He picked up Claire, who was still unconscious, and carried her out of the patient room exit. They made it back to the TARDIS, and the Doctor set Claire down gently.

"Claire? Claire, can you hear me?" The Doctor moved her curly brown locks of hair out of her face. She began to cough and stir.

"She's waking up," Martha said, softly.

Claire's eyelids slowly fluttered open and she sat up. "Hello?" Her voice was hoarse from all the screaming she had done.

"Are you okay, Claire?" the Doctor asked.

Claire smiled and hugged her dad. "I'm just dandy," she said, sarcastically. She extended her hand and the Doctor helped her up. She walked over to a giddy Martha and said, "Don't think I forgot you, Martha." She hugged Martha tightly. "Thank you so much. Both of you."

"What can I say? It's all part of the job," Martha replied with a laugh.

"So, what happened? How did we escape from Chamberlain?" Claire asked.

They started hearing the sound of muffled shouts coming from outside the TARDIS doors.

"It's a long story. Let's just get a move on," The Doctor replied. He began pulling levers and pressing buttons.

"Where to?" Claire asked.

"Well Claire, I believe we have a pit stop to make." The Doctor pulled the handbrake and the TARDIS flew off.

* * *

AN: Remember to follow/favorite if you enjoy this story! Thank you to my wonderful beta reader, SouthernB3lle, for reviewing this for me!

~Alons-y!~


	14. Chapter 14: Frequent Flyers' Privilege

The Doctor, Martha, and Claire heard the familiar sound of the TARDIS materializing. Claire didn't even hesitate to open the doors and run outside, with the Doctor and Martha close behind.

"Hey, wait a minute. I know this street! We're in London; close to my neighborhood," Claire said.

"Yep, that's right," The Doctor confirmed.

"Wow, Doctor. All of time and space and you choose to take us to present-day London? Very original," Martha teased.

The Doctor pulled on his brown trench coat over his brown pinstriped suit. "All in good reason, Martha. Claire, who do you live with? Caretakers? Foster parents?"

"No," Claire looked at the ground and rubbed the back of her neck. "I never got adopted, actually. I live in the orphanage about a block away from here."

Martha's reassuring hand fell on Claire's shoulder. "Lovely neighborhood. You got a lot of friends?"

Claire's face brightened up a little. "Oh yeah. I have plenty of friends from school. Speaking of which, won't they be worried about me? We've been gone a couple of days now."

"No you haven't. Check the date on the TARDIS control panel," The Doctor smiled.

Claire rushed back inside and took a quick look at the control panel. "June 7th, 2007. 5:48 pm." Her eyes widened in surprise and she ran back outside. "Oh my god, I've only been gone an hour!"

"Splendid! Now let's go, we need to get a move on," The Doctor waved Martha and Claire along.

"Where?" Martha and Claire asked in unison.

"I've just got to take care of a bit of paperwork."

Martha and Claire exchanged a confused look before hurrying off after the Doctor. They became dark outlines in the distance as the setting sun shone on them.

* * *

"What are we doing _here_?" Claire groaned as the trio walked up the steps of the orphanage.

"I told you, I have some paperwork to take care of." The Doctor held the large wooden door open for Claire and Martha. "After you."

As soon as Claire walked in, she was greeted by a squeal and probably one of the biggest hugs she had ever had in her life.

"Oh, Claire you're safe! Oh my goodness I thought you were still in that hospital alone! You scared the heck out of me! Are you okay? Did you get hurt?"

For a second, Claire had no idea what the woman in the blue cat-eye glasses was saying. Then, she remembered the hospital that she was in got taken to the moon no less than two hours before. "I'm fine, Patricia, thanks. Did I miss anything while I was gone?"

"Well everyone in the building has been worried sick about you; but besides that, nothing really. You know that little boy, Harold? He finally found a home." Patricia's ponytail tossed around her head while she talked.

"That's great. Good for him," Claire mused. The Doctor cleared his throat roughly.

"Oh, I'm sorry! And this is…?" Patricia looked up at the Doctor.

"Hello, I'm John Smith. Nice to meet you." The Doctor extended a hand to Patricia, who shook it warmly.

Claire furrowed her brow and looked at the Doctor in confusion. _Who's John Smith? _The Doctor gave her a wink.

"Hi, I'm Patricia! What can I do for you today?" Patricia asked in her high-pitched voice.

"I'm here to adopt young Claire." He put his hand on Claire's shoulder and Claire looked up, eyes widened in surprise.

Patricia took off her glasses and placed them on top of her strawberry-blonde hair. She blinked a few times before she said, "Oh, that's wonderful! Marvelous! Come, sir. Right this way, please!" She practically skipped down the hall.

The Doctor followed Patricia and turned the corner, leaving Claire and Martha alone in the main room.

Martha looked at Claire and beamed with excitement. "Congratulations, Claire! This is so exciting!"

Claire nodded in agreement and started jumping up and down. "This is so great and amazing and spectacular and-"

"Oi."

Claire and Martha looked down the hall and saw the Doctor leaning out from behind the wall. "Are you coming or what?"

Claire stifled a giggle. "Right. Coming!" She went down the hall and walked into Patricia's office, with Martha right behind her.

"Okay Mr. Smith, I'm going to need you to sign these forms." Patricia handed the Doctor a clipboard with a slew of papers attached. "Once you're all done, we can set up the date for your hearing so the judge can make sure you are a fit parent."

"Oh, we don't want to waste time on that, do we?" The Doctor muttered under his breath. He reached into his trench coat pocked and pulled out his sonic screwdriver. While Patricia was busy sifting through some files in a cabinet, the Doctor pointed the sonic at her computer. As it buzzed, Claire saw the documents pulled up on the computer start to change and rewrite themselves. She looked at Martha and tried her best not to laugh. The Doctor finished using the screwdriver and placed it back in his coat pocket.

"Alright, Mr. Smith, let's- oh, what's this? Well it looks like you've already gotten all the necessary paperwork done." Patricia's cherry red lips moved as she read the words on the screen. "You've got the judge-mandated approval form and the amended birth certificate. Great! Well then all you need to do is finish signing those forms and Claire is all yours!" Her long eyelashes fluttered as she winked at Claire, who gave her a thumbs-up in return. Bright orange nails tapped the desk as she waited for the Doctor to finish signing the forms.

"All done." The Doctor gave the clipboard back to Patricia.

"Excellent! And Miss, I suppose you will take on the mother role?" Patricia looked at Martha expectantly.

Martha's chocolate-brown eyes widened slightly. "Oh, me? No, no, I'm just a… family friend. I'm visiting from, uh, Manchester."

Patricia blinked and gave a slight nod. "Oh, alright, great. So, Mr. Smith, would you like to wait a day to get things in order and pick up Claire or would you like to head out with her now?"

"Whatever is comfortable with Claire. What do you say, Claire? When should we take off?" The Doctor wrapped his arm around Claire's shoulders.

"Um, can you come back and take me tomorrow? I have a few things I need to take care of first."  
The Doctor's eyes dimmed slightly. "Oh, okay. Yeah, sure I'll come back and take you tomorrow. Martha and I will just go and, um-"

"Sightseeing. We'll do some sightseeing. I don't come around to London very often." Martha said with a smile as she took the Doctor's hand. "Come on, John, we'll go and… ride the London eye. Then we can get some supper." She started leading him out of the room.

"Alright, then. Bye, Claire! See you tomorrow afternoon," The Doctor said as he waved goodbye with his silly grin.

"Congratulations, Claire!" Patricia exclaimed when the Doctor and Martha were out of earshot. She ran out from behind the desk and hugged Claire tightly. "After all these years, you're going to have a family!"

"Patricia, you're uh, cutting off my airway a little bit here," Claire mumbled.

"Oh, sorry!" She let go of Claire and started fixing her curly hair, which had become disheveled in all the excitement. "So, how do you feel?"

"I feel… Amazing!" Claire took Patricia's hand and twirled her around. "Just you wait, Patricia. I'm going to see the world. I'm going to travel to places you've never even dreamed of." She walked over to the window and stared out into the starry night sky. "See the moon? I'm going to it and beyond. In fact, I was already there less than three hours ago. I'm going to meet amazing people and do amazing things. It's going to be fantastic!"

Patricia wiped the tears from her cheeks. Her mascara was starting to streak a little bit from the crying and she took a pink makeup mirror out from her desk drawer to fix her makeup.

"I'm going to pack up my things and go to sleep a little early. I'm beat. Good night Patricia!" Claire ran down the hallway and to her room. She used to share this room with two other girls, but they both got adopted over a year ago. By the next afternoon, this room would be totally empty.

* * *

"You, _what_?"

"Yeah, I know! I got adopted!" Claire exclaimed. She had texted her friends asking them to meet her in the park, where they usually hung out and played sports. Presently, the six of them were seated in a circle, rolling a soccer ball to each other. A thin layer of clouds, despite it being early summer, covered the London sun. Trees whistled silently as gentle breezes shook them back and forth.

"Claire, that's amazing!" exclaimed her best friend, Violet.

"Beyond amazing, it's freaking awesomesauce," said her friend, Oliver.

"Well, I think I can speak for all of us when I say, we are all truly happy for you and this is freaking 'awesomesauce.'" Claire's friend, Noah, put air quotes around that last word and threw the soccer ball at Oliver's chest, causing him to fall over on the grass. He sat upright and his blonde shaggy hair was covered in loose grass.

Claire laughed. "You guys are right! It's amazing! But there is one more thing…"

"Oh no, is there a catch? There's always a catch, isn't there?" Violet asked.

Claire shook her head, causing her brown curls to dance around her face. "It's not like I have a price to pay or anything. It's just… I might be going away for a while."

"What? No! How long is a while? Are you moving? Where are you moving?" Violet asked, covering her mouth in shock.

"I have no idea. I'm not moving; I'm just… going away. Trust me, one call from you guys and I'll be back the next day." Claire attempted to be reassuring, to no avail.

Violet had tears forming in her ocean-blue eyes. "I can't believe this; my best friend is moving away. I didn't think this would ever happen to me! This is so not okay."

Claire placed a hand on Violet's back. "Don't worry, Vi. Like I said, one call from you and I'll be back in no time! Just call when you need me."

Violet sniffled a bit. "Okay. But you better text me every single day! Do you hear me? Every. Day." She wagged a finger at Claire, as if she was enforcing a law.

"Sir yes sir!" Claire saluted Violet, which resulted in Violet pushing her to the floor.

"Well, we're sure gonna miss you, puny," Oliver said.

"Don't call me puny." Claire laughed. She pulled out her phone to check the time. 1:10. "Well, guys, I need to go back. He's going to come to pick me up soon. She got up and put her phone back in her jeans pocket.

The rest of the group got up to say their goodbyes to Claire. "See you soon, bud," Oliver ruffled Claire's hair.

"Bye, pip-squeak." Noah gave Claire a hug that lasted a bit longer than usual. "Don't forget to be awesome."

Claire walked over to hug Violet. "Bye, Vi. Stay cool and amazing while I'm gone, okay?"

Violet sniffled and practically tackled Claire with her hug. "Bye, Claire! Come back soon!"

After Claire's friends had to physically pull Violet off her, Claire made her way back to the orphanage for the last time.

* * *

Upon arriving at the main lobby, Claire found that the Doctor and Martha were already seated in the chairs at the corner.  
"Martha, Dad? You guys got here fast," Claire said as she walked over to where they were sitting.

"We've been here since 12:01. Apparently, when the Doctor says afternoon, he literally means _right_ _after noon_," Martha said, giving the Doctor a slight smack to the back of the head.

"Oi! I came here early because I have so many things I want to show you! Go and get your things so we can get a move on!" The Doctor was on the edge of his seat.

"Alright, alright, I'm going." Claire walked over to her room and took small green duffle bag out from under the bed. She slung it over her shoulder and headed to Patricia's office.

"Knock knock," Claire said as she entered the room.

"Are you on your way out, Claire?" Patricia looked up from the mound of paperwork she had at her desk.

"Yup. I guess this is it, then." Claire shuffled to Patricia's side of the desk and gave her a big hug.

"Hey, it's not like we're never going to see each other again, kid. I do have to say, you seem like you're going on to some pretty big things. Reach for the stars, kid."

"Jeez, what a horrible cliché," Claire teased.

Patricia laughed and walked Claire to the door. "Move it along, tiny."

"See you!" Claire waved goodbye to Patricia and made her way back down the hall.

* * *

"First thing's first," The Doctor said as he prepped the TARDIS for takeoff. He reached into his suit pocket and pulled out two ordinary silver keys attached to a white string. "One for you." He gave one key to Martha. "And one for you." He gave the other key to Claire.

"What's this?" Claire asked.

"It's a key to the TARDIS. Don't lose it," the Doctor warned.

"Wow! Why give us keys to the TARDIS?" Martha asked as she placed the key around her neck and tucked it into her pink blouse.

"Frequent flyers' privilege." The Doctor smirked at them and pulled the handbrake of the TARDIS. "Allons-y!"

* * *

AN: Thank you to everyone who has been reviewing and reading! Be sure to follow and/or favorite this story if you like it. If you're feeling particularly generous, go ahead and leave a review!

~Allons-y!~


	15. Chapter 15: Giant Bats

AN: I made a slight tweak to Claire's age in this chapter. I did the necessary changes in the previous chapters. She is slightly older now. Big thanks to SouthernB3lle for proofreading these chapters for me!

Happy reading!

* * *

_Vwooooom. Vwooooom._

The TARDIS doors opened and the Doctor, Martha, and Claire all stepped out onto a dry, sandy planet. Two burning suns in the sky radiated intense heat. In the distance, the trio could make out a small city through the haze. Tall buildings attempted to touch the blue sky and flying vehicles weaved their way through the architecture.

"Oh my goodness, it's blazing!" Martha exclaimed as she took off her red jacket.

The Doctor and Claire removed their jackets as well and threw them back into the TARDIS. The Doctor held his arms out in a grand gesture and said, "Welcome to Androzani Major, home of the Androzeens. Located in the Sirius system. The year is 400,396. Haven't been here in a while. It's a bit hotter than I remember it."

"A bit?" Claire questioned.

"Oh, this is great!" the Doctor exclaimed as he started walking. "First, we can go to the cave network. It's full of spectrox-producing giant bats- but don't worry, they'll be asleep at this time of day."

"I'm sorry, did you say _giant bats_?" Claire said, attempting to keep up with the Doctor's long stride.

"And then after that, I can take you to the bubbling mud pools! They must be boiling in this heat. It's going to be brilliant!"

Shadows of tall buildings provided refuge from the burning suns as Martha, Claire, and the Doctor moved into the town. Flying vehicles overhead provided a great _whooshing _noise each time they passed by. The Androzeens didn't seem to mind the heat as they walked around and tended to their business. The Androzeens appeared human in terms of appearance. All were very dark-skinned and had dark hair. Colorful thin garments protected them from the rays of the sun, while still allowing whatever cool air was salvaged to cool them off.

The trio came to a wide area lined with shops. Unlike Egypt, the shops were very modern. Buyers and sellers negotiated prices of gadgets, clothing, and food. Children ran around and played together while parents struggled to hold their many shopping bags.

After a moment, Martha said, "They look human."

"No. You look Androzeen, Androzeen look Time Lord. We came first," replied the Doctor.

"So if this is a planet in the Sirius system, how come everyone has a northern accent? Including you?" Claire asked.

"Lots of planets have a north. Come on, let's get to the caves." The Doctor gestured straight ahead and the trio began walking once more. Shielding their eyes from the suns, Claire and Martha tried to get a good look at the shops.

"I really can't wait for you to see these, they're absolutely-"

"Doctor?"

The Doctor whizzed around and saw an Androzeen man smiling and walking up to them.

"Doctor, it _is _you! It's been so long. Remember me? It's Gavin!" Gavin shook the Doctor's hand warmly and patted him on the back.

The Doctor's face lit up with recognition. "Gavin, of course! Good to see you mate! How have you been?"

"Great, we're all fantastic, actually. Thanks to you, of course.

"Thanks to you? What do you mean thanks to you?" Martha asked, curious.

Gavin chuckled and put his hand on the Doctor's shoulder. "This man saved this whole planet a while back. We would've been toast if it wasn't for this guy right here."

"Yeah? I think I'm turning into toast now." Claire muttered.

Gavin laughed. "Ah, not used to the heat I see. Light-skinned visitors don't do so well around here. You might want to get yourselves in the shade before you burn up."

Martha smirked at Claire and the Doctor. "Looks like I've got the advantage here. Time Lords can build spaceships and explore the universe, but put them in a little sun and suddenly they are utterly defenseless."

"Oi!" Claire and the Doctor said in unison.

Gavin laughed uncontrollably at this and walked closer to Martha. "And you are?"

"Martha Jones. Human."

"Well Martha Jones, human, I like your style," he said, kissing her hand.

"Ooh, a gentleman I see. Better watch out for you. So what happened a while back?"

"The Doctor saved the lives of everyone on the planet, that's what. He's a national hero."

The Doctor put a hand through his hair, which was starting to stick to his forehead with sweat. "Oh, no I'm not. I just stopped a little alien invasion. It was no trouble."

Gavin scoffed. "No trouble? You nearly killed yourself! What a modest guy."

"That's great. So how about we all move to the shade? I'm baking right now," Claire suggested. Her curly hair was starting to increase in size with the humidity. She ran her fingers through it desperately, trying to tame it. Giving up, she took a few hair-ties out of her pocket and put it in a low ponytail. She needed four to hold it all in place.

"So, Doctor? I guess we better head on to the caves now. Claire's about to melt," Martha suggested.

Claire let out a sigh of relief. "Wonderful. Bye Gavin, it was nice to meet you." She started towards the other side of the plaza, which boasted a large shady area. She stopped there and sat down, fanning herself with her hand.

Martha extended her hand to Gavin. "Nice to meet you, Gavin. Maybe we could-"

The Doctor did not comprehend the last bit of her sentence. He figured the heat was getting to him and he needed to get to some shade soon.

Gavin smiled and replied to Martha. Just as before, the Doctor didn't understand a word. Now he was getting suspicious.

"Sorry? What did you say?"

Gavin turned to the Doctor and spoke. The Doctor didn't understand him at all.

"What are you saying? I am not understanding a word of this." He scratched his head and looked back and forth at the two of them.

Martha and Gavin had puzzled looks on their faces. They exchanged glances and frowned. They tried to speak to the Doctor again, but to no avail.

* * *

"Nice to meet you, Gavin. Maybe we could meet up again before I leave."

Gavin smiled. "You better make that 'maybe' a definitely because I _definitely_ want to see you again. We'll meet up tonight. I'll take you out to the finest restaurant in Androzani Major."

"Sorry? What did you say?"

Gavin turned to the Doctor. "I was just telling Martha that I'm planning on taking her out tonight."

"What are you saying? I am not understanding a word of this." The Doctor scratched his head and looked back and forth at Martha and Gavin.

Martha and Gavin exchanged confused looks. "Doctor, we were just talking about going out later tonight. That _is_ okay, right?"

The Doctor put his hands behind his head and studied Martha's face. He frowned and put on his black eye glasses. "Oh no, I think I know exactly what's going on. The TARDIS translation system is broken."

Martha's expression became quizzical and she opened her mouth to speak, but quickly closed it

The Doctor clapped his hands and rubbed them together. "Okay, here's what happened. The TARDIS translation system is overheated and I've lost the ability to understand the Androzeen language. All I've got to do is get back to the TARDIS and rewire the translation system. Shouldn't be too hard. Martha, you can stay with Gavin and… do whatever it is that you were doing. Claire and I will go back to the TARDIS and patch everything up."

"But if you can't understand us, how come I can understand you? Time Lords don't speak English, do they?" Martha asked.

The Doctor looked at Martha and shook his head. "Very interesting language, Androzeen. Sort of like German only… less angry. Well, it's time to go! Take care of yourself Martha and _don't wander off_."

* * *

"What do you mean the TARDIS translation system is broken?"

"Take a moment and listen to everyone speaking around you. Can you understand what they're saying, Claire?"

Claire stopped in the middle of the busy street and listened to what the Androzeens were saying. She couldn't understand a single word. Hadn't she just spoken to Gavin in Androzeen moments ago?

"Okay, that's weird. I thought you said the TARDIS translation system gets inside our heads and like… changes things? How could it just stop?"

"The TARDIS translation system does get inside our brains, yes. But if it ever short-circuits, the information it's putting in our minds stops flowing, and it becomes very easy to just let it go if you're not concentrating. Martha must have been concentrating very hard on speaking to Gavin, which is why she didn't let go of the information streaming into her brain."

"Is it easy to fix?"

"Yeah, it should be. It's so weird though, the TARDIS translation system has never broken on me once before." The Doctor frowned and looked up towards the sky. "Why has it gotten so hot here? It's never been so hot before."

"Well, it could have to do with the fact that there are _two suns_ in the sky." Claire gestured towards the blazing suns just above their heads. "Or maybe global warming is finally proving to be the death of us all."

"Believe it or not, but Androzani Major used to be covered in snow and ice. The first time I was here, about 300 or so years ago, the Androzeens had skin as white as cotton and were living in what you would call igloos. They seem to have adapted quickly."

"Woah, _300 years ago_? How old are you exactly?" Claire stared at the Doctor in disbelief. He couldn't have been older than 30. If he was over 300 years old, how old was she? She could be 100 years old and not know it.

"I'm 945 years old, Claire." He looked over at Claire and chuckled at her wide-eyed expression.

"But I am sixteen, right?"

"Nope, you're 311."

"What?!" Claire stopped in her tracks and stared hard at the Doctor.

"Kidding. Of course you're sixteen. Hurry along, we need to get back to the TARDIS."

Claire sighed in relief and continued walking. "I _will _get you for that."

* * *

The Doctor sat in the compartment under the main console. Putting on his black eye glasses that he didn't even need, he studied the inner mechanisms of the TARDIS carefully. "Can you hand me a wrench, Claire?"

Taking the wrench, the Doctor carefully pried open a small hatch to his left. He coughed as clouds of smoke filled the compartment. Sparks clicked and flew as he gingerly lifted out a thin motherboard. Its wires were askew and their rubber coatings were melting off. "Oh this is definitely broken."

He flipped the motherboard over to inspect a large chip attached to the back. The chip was completely fried and it barely retained its shape.

"How does it look?" Claire asked from the console room.

"Well, it's certainly seen better days. The whole thing is overheated and the wires are fried."

"That shouldn't be a big deal, right? All we have to do is replace the wires and we'll be set."

"Well, it's not that simple. The chip that's in the back of the motherboard is fried, and I need to build a new one. The problem is, the chip consists of a rare metal found in cold, damp environments."

"So?"

"So, what part of this planet looks cold and damp to you?" The Doctor climbed out of the compartment and sat down in a chair facing the console. He stared at the glass pipe, deep in thought.

Claire squinted her brown eyes at the ground and fell silent.

The Doctor and Claire both bolted upright "The network of caves!"

"Do you think the metal would be in there?" Claire asked.

"Positive. This planet used to be full of it when it was snowy and icy. The cool temperatures of the caves would have preserved them." The Doctor jumped out of the chair and clapped his hands. "Brilliant! All right Claire, let's get a move on!"

Claire held up her hand and stopped the Doctor. "Wait a minute, didn't you say there were giant bats in the caves?"

The Doctor blinked at Claire, not understanding her concern. "Yes?"

"So basically, we're going to go in the caves, remove this metal from the walls or whatever and get out, all while running the risk of waking up the giant bats?"

"Exactly."

"Oh damn." Claire sighed and stepped out of the TARDIS.

"Language!" The Doctor said as he closed the doors behind him.

* * *

AN: Thanks for reading! Be sure to follow and/or favorite if you like this story. If you're feeling particularly generous, why not leave a review? I appreciate it!


	16. Chapter 16: Claire the Football Star

AN: I would just like to say thank you to all of you who have been reading and following this story. It's my very first multi-chapter fic and I'm glad it's being received well. A huge thanks to my beta, SouthernB3lle, as well. She copes with my crazy comma and semicolon misuse on a regular basis. Happy reading!

* * *

"Don't be scared, Claire. We'll just go in, get what we need, and come out. It shouldn't be too far from here." The Doctor's eyes scanned the cave strategically, trying to find a route that would most likely lead to the metal they were looking for.

The cave's wide opening stood atop a tall sandy hill about a mile away from the market. It was totally cut off from civilization; neither Androzeen nor tourist came within a hundred feet of the place. The inner walls of the cave were an eerie purple hue, as was the rocky, uneven floor. The cave stretched further than the Doctor could see and appeared to be very long. The only source of light came from small, scattered holes in the cave's roof. He could only see a few feet into the cave, after which it was pitch black.

"I don't like this. I don't like this. I don't like this." Claire muttered under her breath.

"I need you to relax. Rule one: don't wander off. We need to get in and out before it gets dark, or else we won't have any light to guide us out. All right then, allons-y!" The Doctor stepped into the cave and started walking forward, placing a hand on the wall for balance. Compared to living mannequins, Daleks, and Cybermen, this would be an easy feat. He just had to get past the bats quickly and quietly, get the metal, and come back out. He hoped Claire would find it as effortless as he found it. If she was this scared over a few bats, how would she handle journeying all throughout time and space, no doubt encountering many other creatures along the way?

* * *

Claire hesitated, but followed suit. She focused all her energy on controlling her breathing and keeping a steady pace. In, out, in, out. What was the worse that could happen? Bats are nocturnal and it was mid-afternoon. It wasn't like she was going to get attacked or anything. In, out, in, out. All she was doing was helping her dad scrape some metal out of a wall. What was she so worked up about? She was sporty and athletic, the best football player on her team. What were a few bats going to do to her? In, out, in, out. She stepped on a rock and it crumbled beneath her feet. Gasping, she jumped back.

"Doing okay, Claire?" the Doctor called from over his shoulder.

Claire sighed and jumped over the small space that was left by the crumbling rock. "Fine. Absolutely fine."

In, out, in out.

* * *

Martha giggled as Gavin put his arm around her. He led her out of the bustling streets of the city and toward a grassy hill overlooking the landscape.

She gasped. When she stood at the top of the hill, she saw rocky mountains bordering the horizon. The ground at the bottom of the hill was also rock, but smoother and sturdy. The grassy hill seemed to act as a border between nature and city. "It's beautiful. I've never seen anything like this."

Gavin sat and patted the ground next to him. "Come sit."

She sat down next to him and stared at the landscape. In that moment, all traces of the guilt she harbored for abandoning her life on Earth and traveling with the Doctor vanished. Why stay at home and fill her life with work and studying when she could be exploring all of time and space with the Doctor? He was unlike any man she had ever met. Well, apart from the fact that he was an alien with a time travelling box. He was so sweet, so smart, and so adventurous. She wondered if he travelled alone most of his life or if he had… someone else travel with him. Someone more than just a friend.

"Martha?"

Martha blinked and looked at Gavin. "Sorry, did you say something?"

He laughed and brushed a hair off of her face. "I asked you how long you've been travelling with the Doctor. Last time he was here, he came with another one of his friends. What was her name? Rose? Do you know her?"

So the Doctor had travelled with other people in the TARDIS. Of course. What did she think? That she was the first and only one? He had been travelling in the TARDIS for a while before he met her. What did she think? That maybe the Doctor wanted her to travel with him because she was different? Because he saw something special in her that no one else had? She was probably one of hundreds of people to travel with the Doctor. Then again, there was that kiss. That kiss on the first day she met the Doctor in the hospital and they were trying to find the plasmavore that the Judoon were hunting. _That_ certainly didn't make her feel ordinary. She drifted back to that wonderful moment.

_The Doctor paced the floor and scratched his head. "Think, think, think. If I was a plasmavore surrounded by police, what would I do?" He looked up at the MRI sign hanging from the ceiling and his eyes widened in realization_. _"Aah. She's as clever as me. Almost."_

_"Find the non-human. Execute." Judoon voices echoed throughout the hallway. They were getting closer to Martha and the Doctor. If they scanned the Doctor and discovered he wasn't human, they were going to kill him._

_The Doctor turned to Martha and grabbed her shoulders. "Stay here. I need time. You're going to have to hold them up."_

_"How do I do that?" Martha asked._

_"Martha, forgive me for this. It's to save a thousand lives. It means nothing. Honestly, nothing." With that, he kissed her on her lips and ran off without another word._

_She stared at him as he ran off, incredulous. "That was nothing?"_

"Martha? Do you know her?" Gavin repeated. He waved a hand in front of Martha's face. "Still there?"

"Oh, right! Um, no I don't know her. I only just met him yesterday. Well, technically I met him over 400,000 years ago. Oh my god! I've been dead for over 400,000 years!" She sat up and looked at Gavin with wide eyes. "That's insane!"

He smiled at her and shook his head. "You're always thinking, aren't you? Don't think, just sit back and enjoy the scenery. You say you've been dead for over 400,000 years, but I think you have only just begun to live."

* * *

The Doctor and Claire came to a fork in the cave. One pathway branched off to the left and one to the right.

"So what do we do now?" Claire looked at the entrances to each pathway. They looked identical in every way. She looked at the Doctor and saw that he was looking at her with raised eyebrows and a knowing look in his eyes.

"No. No no no. There is no way we are going off on our own."

"Claire, you know it's the only way we'll be able to make it out in enough time. The metal is called oothalanium. It's bright green and comes in large chunks. You won't be able to miss it."

She sighed. "Fine, but I get that silver thing."

"What silver thing?"

"You know, the silver thing that you used to hack the ATM in that food court. It makes a whirring noise and glows blue."

"Oh, you mean my sonic screwdriver!" The Doctor pulled his sonic screwdriver from his pocket and gave it to Claire. "It probably won't help you much, but if long as it makes you feel better-"

"Hold on." Claire stared at him with a furrowed brow.

"What?"

"This is a _sonic screwdriver_?"

"Yes. And?"

"Nothing." She smirked and started down the left pathway.

"What? What is it?"

"Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks 'Hm, this could be more sonic!'" She continued down the pathway and out of sight.

"Oi! Don't diss the sonic!" The Doctor called after her before walking down the pathway to the right.

* * *

The Doctor made his way through the cave with care. It was getting slightly darker and it became slightly harder to see. He picked his way through stray rocks on the ground and scanned the walls meticulously, looking for any sign of oothalanium. He stopped when he heard a slight flapping noise. Looking up, he saw a small group of giant bats hanging from the ceiling. Ducking his head, he tiptoed past the bats with ease and made sure not to step on any rocks. He hoped he would find the oothalanium soon, or else he would reach the end of the cavern and not be able to make it back on time.

* * *

Claire gripped the sonic tightly in her hand. She had absolutely no idea how to use it, but it brought her comfort. It have her something to hold on to. She was still very annoyed with herself because of how scared she was. She had to remember that she wasn't just Claire: the girl that lived on Earth for a full sixteen years of nothing. She was Claire: the Time Lord who was going to travel all throughout time and space without giving a damn of what happened on Earth. Wait, would a female Time Lord be referred to as a Time Lady? Lady of Time, Lord of Time; she thought Lord of Time had a much better ring to it. Still, she wondered what happened to the other Time Lords. Her dad had said they were all gone and that they were the only ones left. It must have been awful, considering the look he had in his eyes as he was telling her this information. How could an entire species be wiped out and leave one sole survivor?

_Wow, the silence of this cave is really giving me a lot of time to think. I need to get out of my head and find the oothalanium._

She was brought out of her daze when she saw bright green poking out of the wall just up ahead. She ran up to it and took a good look. It was shaped into a perfect square and had a smooth texture. She saw the reflection of her brown eyes very clearly on its clean surface. She always hated her brown eyes. They weren't extravagant or particularly pretty, like the green oothalanium. They were just _brown_. They weren't blue with little flakes of grey and gold, just _brown_. They weren't different hues of green, just _brown_.

Rolling her eyes and covering up the front of the oothalanium so she could no longer see herself, Claire pulled. The oothalanium eased out little by little until it popped out and she was thrown back against the cave wall. She rubbed her aching shoulder and stood up. She didn't exercise her arms much while playing football.

_This oothalanium better be worth it._

Claire turned around and began walking in the other direction toward the fork in the cave. The sooner they were out of there, the better.

* * *

The Doctor groaned when he saw a rock wall at the end of the pathway. That was it; he had reached the end of the cave and found nothing. Turning around, he began to make his way back up the path and to the fork in the cave. It was becoming very dark and increasingly difficult to see. The holes in the cave's roof did not provide a sufficient amount of light and he squinted to see in the darkness.

He lost his footing when he stepped on a loose rock in the pathway. The rock crumbled beneath his feet and he fell over, using his hands to break his fall. Grunting and muttering to himself, the Doctor got up and brushed the dust and bits of rock off his hands. He began to walk forward when he heard fluttering noises behind him. He turned around to see six yellow eyes staring at him in the dark.

* * *

Claire waited at the entrance of the pathway her dad took and tried to make out his figure in the darkness. Not seeing anything, she sat down on the floor and threw the oothalanium up and down. She stopped when she heard fluttering noises. Were those the bats her dad was talking about? She stood up and gripped the metal tightly in her hand. "Dad? Dad is that you? I have the oothalanium. We can go now."

She heard rapid footsteps and high-pitched screeches getting closer and closer to the entrance. The Doctor sprinted out of the pathway and grabbed Claire by the hand.

"No time to talk, just run!" He led Claire through the cave with the bats in pursuit.

"What did you do?" Claire yelled. She looked back at the bats. They were huge, almost two feet tall, with a wingspan wide enough to touch both walls of the cave at once.

"Aaaah!" Claire yelled and ran faster, dragging the Doctor along with her. When they were reaching the end of the cave and saw the dim light of sunset, they jumped out and landed on the ground with a thud.

Coughing and groaning, they got up and dusted themselves off. After a moment of silence, the Doctor and Claire looked at each other and started laughing.

"You really can run, Claire." The Doctor said between bursts of giggles. He straightened his brown tie and fixed his collar.

"So can you, Dad, for an old man." Claire fixed her curly hair and re-tied the shoelaces on her red sneakers.

"Well, there's lots more running where that came from. Did you get any oothalanium?"

Claire held up the bright green metal, still tightly gripped in her hand.

"Brilliant."

* * *

"So? Did you get it fixed?" Claire asked. She sat on the staircase in the TARDIS as the Doctor pulled out the motherboard once more. He snapped the oothalanium into place and took out his sonic screwdriver. With a whir and a click, the motherboard began humming once more, and the he attached it to the circuit board in the TARDIS where it belonged.

The Doctor popped out of the lower level of the TARDIS and smiled at Claire. "Why don't we go see for ourselves? It's about time we go pick up Martha and see how she's doing."

* * *

Martha and Gavin sat on top of the hill and watched the sunset together. The two suns of Androzani Major set in unison, one on the east and one on the west. The sky was a cascade of pinks, blues, and oranges, similar to an oil painting.

"Is this what sunsets on Earth are like?" Gavin asked.

"Almost, except we only have one sun. You can't really see it behind the tall buildings and lights," Martha replied.

"You know, Martha, if you want to see a sunset like this every day, you could stay here with me and we could make this our special place."

Martha looked at Gavin and gave him a small smile. "Gavin, you are one of the most charming men I've ever met, but it's not exactly my place here."

"Then where is your place?"

"I'm not sure yet. Maybe back on Earth as a doctor or maybe up there." She pointed at the sky.

"Well, if you don't find your place, there's always room for you here on Androzani Major with me."

She stood up and helped Gavin to his feet. "I think I should be heading back to the TARDIS. The Doctor and Claire might be there by now."

"Present and accounted for!"

Martha turned around and saw the Doctor and Claire standing behind her. "Oh, there you two are! How did it go?"

"Well, there was a lot of running," Claire replied.

"There always is," the Doctor agreed. "More importantly, though, we fixed the TARDIS translation system! Ready to go, Martha?"

"You bet." Martha turned around and kissed Gavin on the cheek. "Gavin, any girl you meet would be lucky to have you. Take care, all right?"

Gavin kissed the back of Martha's hand. "Goodbye, Martha. I hope you find your place.

* * *

"Oooh, looks like you and Gavin hit it off." Claire elbowed Martha in the arm. "Was there some snogging going on while my dad and I were risking our lives back in those caves?"

"Oh, you shush." Martha messed with Claire's hair.

"Touchy. Looks like Martha is a strong, independent woman who don't need no man."

"You bet I am." Martha said. She looked at the Doctor walking a few steps ahead of her and sighed. There _was_ one man she wanted.

* * *

AN: Thanks for reading! Remember to follow and/or favorite if you like this story. If you're feeling particularly generous, why not leave a review? I appreciate it!


	17. Chapter 17: An Infinite Hell

Sparks of red and pink shot across the sky in a fantastic display of color like nothing Claire had ever seen before. She watched as the blue fireworks took the form of a dragon and flew around the night sky. It let out a breath of fire through its mouth and nostrils before dissipating into the air once more.

"Where did you say we are?" Claire shouted to the Doctor over the loud roar of a cheering crowd.

"Washington D.C.," the Doctor shouted back.

"And… When are we?"

"It is the Fourth of July, 4083. We are at the biggest fireworks display in history. It's a shame Martha wasn't feeling too well. She would've loved to see this. This is a pretty significant year in America's history, might I add. Americans have developed the first supersonic rocket that will be able to achieve intergalactic travel and teleportation devices have been improved upon so that there is no longer a possibility of splicing. Oh, and a panini press has also been developed that can cut the crust off your sandwiches for you!"

Claire grinned and turned her attention back to the fireworks. Yellow fireworks shot into the sky and took the form of a trumpet. The sound of jazz music could be heard as the trumpet seemed to play itself.

Someone bumped into her and she stumbled forwards. The Doctor caught her by the forearm so she wouldn't go tumbling into the crowd.

"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry!" said a voice behind Claire.  
She turned around to face whoever bumped into her. He was a bit short for a man and looked no older than twenty-five. His dark curls shook in the light wind and his blue eyes shone in the light of the fireworks.

"No, that's fine," Claire mumbled.

The man extended his hand. "My name is Ian."

"Claire." She shook the man's hand.

"I'm the Doctor." The Doctor shook Ian's hand as well.

"Well, I need to go find my family. It was nice to meet you both." Ian turned around and pushed through the cheering crowd.

The Doctor looked at his daughter and frowned. "Why were you so shy?"

"I, uh- I don't do so well meeting new people." She looked at the people all around her and stepped closer to the Doctor.

"You weren't so shy when we met Gavin on Androzani."

"That was different, though! That was on a whole different planet and there weren't _this_ many people so close to me.

They both turned to look back at the sky just as the final fireworks were launched. A sparkling American flag was waving proudly in the air for a few moments before losing its shape and showering down in waves of red, white, and blue. The crowd went mad.

"All right Claire, let's try to get back to the TARDIS before everyone else makes a mad dash to leave."

The Doctor put his arm around Claire's shoulders and together they pushed their way through the mass of people. When they were finally past the crowd, they began to make their way down the empty street.

When they reached the Capitol building, they stopped to admire the architecture of it. The long white columns and dome top looked breathtaking in the glow of the lights surrounding them. Claire admired the statue of the woman on top of the dome.

"That's Lady Freedom," the Doctor said after he noticed Claire admiring the statue. "You know, although most of the world has changed its style of architecture as time goes on, Washington D.C. is the only part of the world never to change. Apart from a few restoration projects here and there, the buildings still look the same as they did in your time. I think that says a lot."

Claire thought about those words, 'in your time.' She was just in her time less than a week ago, but now she was in the year 4083. It felt like nothing had changed, even though everything did. "So… I've been dead for over a thousand years, haven't I?"

"You're a Time Lord, Claire. We don't die; we regenerate. There's an older version of you running around the universe right now."

"With you?" Claire asked, looking at the Doctor.

"With me."

"What exactly does regeneration mean?"

Before the Doctor could answer, Claire felt a sharp stab in her neck. Then everything went black.

* * *

Claire woke up to see her own reflection staring back at her. She was lying on the floor, looking up. How was she seeing her own reflection? She shakily stood up and rubbed her neck. After she got to her feet, she found herself staring at her own reflection again. Turning around, she noticed that she was in a room where all four walls were large mirrors, cleaned to perfection. She looked up and down and noticed that the ceiling and floor were also large mirrors. When she stared at any one of the mirrors, she saw dozens of reflections staring back that were smaller and smaller as they went back. She remembered playing around with the wardrobes in the orphanage when she was five. Claire would open the doors so that the mirrors were facing each other and look at the dozens of reflections that resulted. The effect with six mirrors was disorienting.

She walked up to one of the mirrors to get a closer look. Surely the entire wall couldn't be a mirror. Carefully, she placed her hand on the glass. As soon as her hand touched it, the whole mirror shattered. Claire jumped back with a yelp and looked at the thousands of pieces of glass on the floor, each with a small reflection of Claire on them.

She looked back up at the wall, expecting to find something else that was hidden behind the mirror. Instead, she just found another mirror in its place that was no different than the first one. It looked like nothing had even happened to the wall at all. She wondered how many layers of mirrors made up the wall. When she looked back at the ground, the shards of glass were all gone.

Claire turned around and scanned the room, looking for any doors or openings in the mirrors. Nothing. There were no doors and no openings. Not even so much as a mouse hole. The room was sealed shut. How was she breathing?

A low rumbling began to fill the room. It sounded as though small boulders were tumbling down a hill. The first wave of an avalanche. The rumbling began to get louder and louder until it filled the entire room and Claire had to cover her ears. Suddenly, the mirrors on the walls all shattered and the shards flew towards her. She quickly ducked down and covered her head and face using her arms. She shrieked as the deafening sound of crashing glass filled the room. When the sound stopped and she could no longer feel the shards of glass crashing into her, Claire stood up and looked around the room. All of the mirrors looked exactly the same. None were cracked or scratched. It was as if none of them even shattered. She looked down at the ground and didn't see a single shard of glass anywhere. When she looked at her reflection, she saw cuts all over her body. There were cuts all over her arms, legs, and face. As the rush of adrenaline subsided, she began to feel the sting that each cut brought when exposed to the air. She looked around the room in horror. Hundreds of reflections surrounded her and she didn't see an end to them. She was in a room made entirely of mirrors. An infinite Hell.

_What is this place?_


End file.
